Transferring line of credit funds as overdraft protection

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods that utilize funds accessed from a gaming establishment credit system to provide an overdraft protection feature to one or more gaming establishment accounts.

BACKGROUND

In various embodiments, the systems and methods of the presentdisclosure utilize funds accessed from a gaming establishment creditsystem to provide an overdraft protection feature to one or more gamingestablishment accounts.

Casinos are associated with multiple different channels of commerceincluding gaming activities (e.g., wagers on plays of games atelectronic gaming machines and gaming tables) and non-gaming activities(e.g., making retail purchases at point-of-sale terminals throughout thecasino).

BRIEF SUMMARY

In certain embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a systemincluding a processor, and a memory device that stores a plurality ofinstructions. When executed by the processor following an occurrence ofa request to complete a transaction associated with a first amount offunds from a gaming establishment account and responsive to the gamingestablishment account being associated with an overdraft protectionfeature and the gaming establishment account being associated with asecond amount of funds that is less than the first amount of funds, theinstructions cause the processor to communicate, to a device, dataassociated with an authorization to complete the transaction, wherein adifference between the first amount of funds and the second amount offunds is drawn from a line of credit. When executed by the processorresponsive to the gaming establishment account not being associated withthe overdraft protection feature and the gaming establishment accountbeing associated with the second amount of funds that is less than thefirst amount of funds, the instructions cause the processor tocommunicate, to the device, data associated with a denial to completethe transaction.

In certain embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a systemincluding a processor, and a memory device that stores a plurality ofinstructions. When executed by the processor after an establishment ofan overdraft protection feature associated with a gaming establishmentaccount, the instructions cause the processor to receive data associatedwith a request to access a first amount of funds from the gamingestablishment account when the gaming establishment account isassociated with a second amount of funds that is less than the firstamount of funds. When executed by the processor responsive to therequest complying with an overdraft protection control, the instructionscause the processor to communicate a request for a third amount of fundsto a component of a gaming establishment credit system that maintains aline of credit, and responsive to the third amount of funds beingactivated from the line of credit and transferred to the gamingestablishment account, approve the request to access the first amount offunds from the gaming establishment account.

In certain embodiments, the present disclosure relates to a method ofoperating a system. Following an occurrence of a request to complete atransaction associated with a first amount of funds from a gamingestablishment account and responsive to the gaming establishment accountbeing associated with an overdraft protection feature and the gamingestablishment account being associated with a second amount of fundsthat is less than the first amount of funds, the method includescommunicating, by a processor and to a device, data associated with anauthorization to complete the transaction, wherein a difference betweenthe first amount of funds and the second amount of funds is drawn from aline of credit. Responsive to the gaming establishment account not beingassociated with the overdraft protection feature and the gamingestablishment account being associated with the second amount of fundsthat is less than the first amount of funds, the method includescommunicating, by the processor and to the device, data associated witha denial to complete the transaction.

Additional features are described herein, and will be apparent from thefollowing Detailed Description and the figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an example configuration of the architecture of a plurality ofdifferent components of the system of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 2A, 2B, and 2C are example graphical user interfaces displayed inconnection with activating a line of credit for overdraft protectionpurposes to facilitate a purchase using a gaming establishment retailwallet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In various embodiments, responsive to a request to transfer an amount offunds from a gaming establishment account to a gaming establishmentdevice and a determination to utilize an overdraft protection featureassociated with the gaming establishment account, the system of thepresent disclosure accesses an amount of funds activated from a line ofcredit.

In certain embodiments, in view of the friction encountered by certainusers in having certain transactions at a gaming establishment devicedeclined due to inadequate funds in a gaming establishment account tocomplete a requested transaction, the system accesses an amount of fundsfrom a funding source associated with overdraft protection that isbacked by a line of credit. In these embodiments, rather than denying arequested transaction if a single funding source lacks the requestedamount of funds to complete the requested transaction, the system of thepresent disclosure coordinates obtaining the requested amount of fundsfrom multiple funding sources (i.e., a line of credit associated with auser and a gaming establishment account maintained for that user) tocomplete a requested transaction at a gaming establishment device. Forexample, if a user requests to complete a purchase at a gamingestablishment point-of-sale retail terminal (i.e., a gamingestablishment device) and the system determines that a gamingestablishment retail account associated with that user lacks adequatefunds to complete the requested purchase, in association with anactivated overdraft protection feature, the system accesses an amount offunds from a line of credit to fund the deficiency in the gamingestablishment retail account, issues a marker for the amount of fundsactivated from the line of credit and completes the requested purchase.In another example, if a user requests to transfer an amount of fundsfrom a gaming establishment wagering account to an electronic gamingmachine and the system determines that the gaming establishment wageringaccount associated with that user lacks adequate funds to complete therequested transfer, in association with an activated overdraftprotection feature, the system accesses an amount of funds from a lineof credit to fund the deficiency in the gaming establishment wageringaccount, issues a marker for the amount of funds activated from the lineof credit and completes the requested transfer. Such a configurationprovides the user greater control over their funds, such as providingthe user with the ability to complete a transaction at a gamingestablishment device wherein part of the funds associated with such atransaction are accessed from a line of credit as an overdraftprotection feature.

In certain embodiments, in view of the indirect avenues for a user toaccess a line of credit to obtain gaming chips to be wagered at a gamingtable and the friction encountered by these users in one funding sourcehaving an inadequate amount of funds which the user requests to transferto a gaming table to fund a gaming session, the system offers anoverdraft protection feature to enable a user to transfer funds to agaming table from a single gaming establishment account (or a collectionof gaming establishment accounts) paired, via the overdraft protectionfeature, with a line of credit. In these embodiments, rather than a userhaving to visit a gaming establishment cage or desk, sign one or moreslips authorizing access of an approved line of credit and then bring anamount of gaming chips provided by the gaming establishment cage to agaming table (or alternatively bringing a ticket voucher provided by thegaming establishment cage to a gaming table to be exchanged by a dealerfor a corresponding amount of gaming chips), the system of the presentdisclosure coordinates the transfer of a requested amount of funds froma funding source associated with overdraft protection that is backed bya line of credit to a balance of a gaming table component (e.g., adealer workstation at the gaming table, a fund transfer kiosk at thegaming table, or a mobile workstation of a gaming establishment staffmember assigned to service the gaming table). In these embodiments,following the completion of the transfer of the amount of funds accessedfrom the gaming establishment account associated with overdraftprotection provided via a line of credit to the gaming table componentand the issuance of a marker for the amount of funds activated from theline of credit, gaming establishment personnel associated with thegaming table component, such as the dealer or the gaming establishmentstaff member, issues an amount of gaming chips (corresponding to thetransferred amount of funds) to the user to be wagered at the gamingtable. Such a configuration thus saves the user time in not having tovisit a gaming establishment cage to access funds associated with a lineof credit utilized to provide overdraft protection of the gamingestablishment account.

In certain embodiments, upon a user requesting an amount of funds at agaming establishment device, such as a non-gaming device (e.g., a retailpoint-of-sale terminal) or a gaming device (e.g., an electronic gamingmachine (“EGM”) or a gaming table component associated with a gamingestablishment gaming table) to complete a transaction, the systemdetermines if an amount of funds, if any, currently associated with agaming establishment account associated with the user is at least equalto the requested amount of funds. For example, following a user at agaming establishment retail point-of-sale terminal requesting an amountof funds from a gaming establishment retail account to purchase a goodand/or a service, the gaming establishment retail point-of-sale terminalinterfaces with a component of a gaming establishment fund managementsystem to request the amount of funds. In this example, the component ofthe gaming establishment fund management system determines if the gamingestablishment retail account associated with the user and maintained bythe gaming establishment fund management system includes a sufficientbalance to cover the requested amount of funds to complete the purchase.

In certain embodiments, if the system determines that the amount offunds currently associated with the gaming establishment account coversthe requested amount of funds to complete the transaction, the systemcoordinates the transfer of the requested amount of funds from thegaming establishment account to the gaming establishment device. Thatis, responsive to a gaming establishment account including an amount offunds to satisfy the requested amount of funds, one or more componentsof the system cause part or all of the amount of funds residing in thegaming establishment account to be available to fund one or moreactivities of the gaming establishment device (without requiring anyactivation of any funds from any lines of credit or any issuance of anymarkers). For example, following a determination that the gamingestablishment retail account associated with the user includes asufficient balance to cover an amount of funds to complete the purchaseat the gaming establishment retail point-of-sale terminal, a componentof a gaming establishment fund management system and the gamingestablishment retail point-of-sale terminal interface to transfer therequested amount of funds from the gaming establishment retail accountassociated with the user to the gaming establishment retailpoint-of-sale terminal (or a component of a gaming establishment retailsystem associated with the gaming establishment retail point-of-saleterminal) to complete the purchase transaction (without requiring anyactivation of any funds from any lines of credit or any issuance of anymarkers).

In certain embodiments, if the system determines that the amount offunds currently associated with the gaming establishment account coversless than the requested amount of funds to complete the transaction, thesystem determines if the gaming establishment account is associated withan overdraft protection feature provided by a line of credit. That is,if a shortfall exists with the amount of funds available from the gamingestablishment account relative to the amount of funds requested from thegaming establishment account to complete the transaction, the systemdetermines if any overdraft protection that is backed by a line ofcredit is available to potentially complete the requested transaction.

If the system determines that the gaming establishment account isassociated with an overdraft protection feature provided via a line ofcredit, the system determines if the line of credit is associated withan available amount of funds to cover the shortfall between the amountof funds, if any, currently associated with the gaming establishmentaccount and the requested amount of funds to complete the transaction.In these embodiments, upon a determination that a gaming establishmentaccount associated with overdraft protection funded from a line ofcredit lacks sufficient funds to satisfy the requested amount of funds(and in certain embodiments, additionally determines that no overdraftprotection controls would be violated if a line of credit were accessedin association with the attempted transaction), the system automaticallydetermines if the line of credit has a sufficient available balance to,when accounting for any funds accessed from the gaming establishmentaccount, satisfy the amount of funds to complete the requestedtransaction.

In certain embodiments, if the system determines that the gamingestablishment account does not have any overdraft protection featureprovided via any lines of credit, that one or more overdraft protectioncontrols would be violated via accessing the line of credit or that theline of credit available to provide overdraft protection is notassociated with an available amount of funds to cover the shortfallbetween the amount of funds, if any, currently associated with thegaming establishment account and the requested amount of funds tocomplete the transaction, the system denies the requested transaction.In other words, upon a determination that funds currently held in agaming establishment account without any overdraft protection do not atleast equal the requested amount of funds or that the available amountof funds from the overdraft protection feature associated with a gamingestablishment account will not, when combined with any funds in thatgaming establishment account, at least equal the requested amount offunds, the system denies the attempted transfer of funds and does notcomplete the requested transaction. For example, following adetermination that a gaming establishment retail account associated witha user lacks a sufficient balance to complete a purchase at a gamingestablishment retail point-of-sale terminal and following adetermination that a line of credit associated with an overdraftprotection feature for the gaming establishment retail account lacks anavailable amount of funds to make up the shortfall of this insufficientbalance, the system denies the requested transfer and does not completethe attempted purchase at the gaming establishment retail point-of-saleterminal.

On the other hand, if the system determines that the gamingestablishment account has an overdraft protection feature provided via aline of credit, no overdraft protection controls would be violated viaaccessing the line of credit and the line of credit is associated withan available amount of funds to cover the shortfall between the amountof funds, if any, currently associated with the gaming establishmentaccount and the requested amount of funds to complete the transaction,the system coordinates the transfer to the gaming establishment deviceof any amounts of funds in the gaming establishment account and anamount of funds activated from the line of credit. In these embodiments,the system operates to coordinate a transfer of funds from a gamingestablishment account and/or from an accessed line of credit such that,collectively, the requested amount of funds are transferred to thegaming establishment device (or to an account associated with the gamingestablishment device). For example, following a determination that agaming establishment retail account associated with a user lacks asufficient balance to cover an amount of funds requested to complete apurchase at a gaming establishment retail point-of-sale terminal andfollowing a determination that the gaming establishment retail accountis associated with an overdraft protection feature backed by a line ofcredit with an available amount of funds, a component of a gamingestablishment credit system interfaces with a component of a gamingestablishment fund management system to transfer a first part of therequested amount of funds from a line of credit associated with the userto the gaming establishment retail account associated with the user andto issue a marker for the amount of funds activated from the line ofcredit. In addition to this accessing the line of credit in associationwith an overdraft protection feature, a component of a gamingestablishment fund management system and the gaming establishment retailpoint-of-sale terminal interface to transfer the requested amount offunds from the gaming establishment retail account to the gamingestablishment retail point-of-sale terminal (or a component of a gamingestablishment retail system associated with the gaming establishmentretail point-of-sale terminal) to complete the purchase at the gamingestablishment retail point-of-sale terminal. As illustrated by thisexample, upon a determination that a combination of any funds currentlyheld in a gaming establishment account (or across multiple gamingestablishment accounts) and funds currently available to be accessedfrom any lines of credit employed to provide overdraft protection atleast equals the requested amount of funds to complete the transaction,the system proceeds with completing the transfer of funds from thesedifferent funding sources to the gaming establishment device.

It should be appreciated that while this example includes a transfer offunds of funds from the gaming establishment credit system to a gamingestablishment account maintained by the gaming establishment fundmanagement system prior to the completion of the transaction, such atransfer may occur after the completion of the transaction to cure thegaming establishment account being overdrawn to complete thetransaction. In these embodiments, while the system may confirm that theline of credit is associated with an amount of funds necessary tocomplete the transaction (and put a hold on part or all of the fundsavailable from the line of credit), the activation of the funds from theline of credit and the corresponding issuance of a marker for such fundsmay occur following the completion of the transaction, such as at apredetermined point in time in association with a scheduledreconciliation process or upon gaming establishment personnel requestingsuch a reconciliation of funds activated from the line of credit.

It should be further appreciated that while this example includes atransfer of funds from the gaming establishment credit system to thegaming establishment account maintained by the gaming establishment fundmanagement system prior to such funds being transferred to the gamingestablishment device to complete the transaction, such funds may betransferred from the gaming establishment credit system to the gamingestablishment device to, when combined with any funds residing in thegaming establishment account that are also transferred to the gamingestablishment device, complete the transaction. In these embodiments,rather than the gaming establishment credit system transferring anyfunds activated from a line of credit to a gaming establishment accountassociated with a user prior to such funds being subsequentlytransferred to their final destination, such as a gaming establishmentdevice or an account associated with the gaming establishment device,the gaming establishment credit system directly transfers any fundsactivated from a line of credit to their final destination, such as agaming establishment device or an account associated with the gamingestablishment device, bypassing any accounts associated with the user.

Such a configuration of initiating, in certain instances on demand, andbased on the amount of funds in a gaming establishment accountassociated with overdraft protection provided via an available line ofcredit, the activation of an amount of funds associated with theavailable line of credit reduces friction encountered by certain usersin completing transactions, saves users time in accessing lines ofcredit and provides a relatively safer gaming establishment environment(e.g., minimizing users and/or gaming establishment personnel having tocarry large sums of cash or ticket vouchers associated with large sumsof money). Such a configuration further reduces the use of paper ticketvouchers (which a gaming establishment cage may issue against a line ofcredit for use at an EGM and/or a gaming table) thus reducing the amountof waste produced by gaming establishments (and realizing anenvironmental benefit of implementing the system of the presentdisclosure).

In various embodiments, the present disclosure is directed to a gamingestablishment fund management system including various sub-systems thatare each associated with or otherwise maintain one or more electronic orvirtual accounts. In these embodiments, the various accounts maintainedfor a user collectively form a resort or enterprise account (i.e., agaming establishment fund management account) for the user. That is, thecollection of cashless wagering accounts (e.g. cashless gamingestablishment wagering wallets, cashless sports wagering wallets and/orcashless mobile wagering wallets) and gaming establishment retailaccounts (e.g., gaming establishment retail wallets) associated with orotherwise maintained for a user, such as a retail patron, collectivelyform a resort or enterprise account (i.e., an integrated resort orgaming establishment fund management wallet) that the user may access totransfer funds and/or view balance information amongst the variousaccounts associated with or otherwise maintained for the user.

In various embodiments, the gaming establishment fund management systemincludes or is otherwise associated with one or more cashless wageringsystems. Each cashless wagering system is associated with or otherwisemaintain one or more cashless wagering accounts. In differentembodiments, zero, one or more of these cashless wagering accounts areassociated with (or otherwise configured to be associated with upon oneor more inputs from a user and/or gaming establishment personnel) anoverdraft protection feature that is backed by a line of credit. Incertain embodiments, the gaming establishment fund management systemincludes a first cashless wagering system that maintains a firstcashless wagering account. In these embodiments, a user, such as aplayer of an EGM, utilizes a mobile device application running on amobile device and/or a physical instrument (e.g., a smart card or a userissued magnetic striped card which the user utilizes via inserting thecard into a player tracking unit associated with the EGM) to facilitatethe electronic transfer of any funds between this first cashlesswagering account and a gaming device, such as a component of a gamingtable and/or an EGM (including, but not limited to, a slot machine, avideo poker machine, a video lottery terminal, a terminal associatedwith an electronic table game, a terminal associated with a live tablegame, a video keno machine, a video bingo, and/or a sports bettingterminal (that offers wagering games and/or sports bettingopportunities)). For example, as seen in FIG. 1 , the gamingestablishment fund management system includes a first cashless wageringsystem (not shown) that maintains a Cashless Wagering Wallet 102 (e.g.,a first cashless wagering account) which is in communication with theenterprise wallet 104. In this example, to facilitate the transfer offunds between this cashless wagering account and a credit balance of anEGM 106 and/or a credit balance of a gaming table component (not shown)associated with a gaming table 108, the system utilizes a mobile device110 running a mobile device application that interfaces with one or morecomponents of the gaming establishment fund management system to enablea user, such as a player of the EGM or a player at the gaming table,access to this first cashless wagering account.

In certain embodiments, the gaming establishment fund management systemadditionally or alternatively includes or is otherwise associated with asecond cashless wagering system that maintains a second cashlesswagering account. In these embodiments, funds associated with the secondcashless wagering account are utilized to place one or more sportingevent wagers and/or wagers placed remote from an EGM and a gaming table.In such embodiments, a user utilizes a mobile device application runningon a mobile device and/or a physical instrument (e.g., a smart card or auser issued magnetic striped card which the user utilizes via insertingthe card into a kiosk) to facilitate the electronic transfer of anyfunds between this second cashless wagering account and a credit balanceaccessible to wager on sporting events and/or games of chance (or gamesof skill) remote from an EGM and a gaming table. For example, as seen inFIG. 1 , the gaming establishment fund management system includes asecond cashless wagering system (not shown) that maintains a SportsWagering Wallet 112 (e.g., a second cashless wagering account) which isin communication with the enterprise wallet 104. In this example, tofacilitate the transfer of funds between this cashless wagering accountand a credit balance associated with a sporting event wagering system(not shown) and/or a remote wagering system (not shown) to enable theplacement of one or more wagers on one or more sporting events and/orone or more games of chance (or games of skill), the system utilizes amobile device 110 running a mobile device application that interfaceswith one or more components of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem to enable, amongst other activities, a user, such as a userremote from the gaming establishment, access to this second cashlesswagering account.

In various embodiments, in addition to or an alternative of maintainingone or more cashless wagering accounts via one or more cashless wageringsystems, the gaming establishment fund management system includes or isotherwise associated with one or more gaming establishment retail walletsystems that each maintain one or more gaming establishment retailaccounts. In different embodiments, zero, one or more gamingestablishment retail accounts are associated with (or otherwiseconfigured to be associated with upon one or more inputs from a userand/or gaming establishment personnel) an overdraft protection featurethat is backed by a line of credit. In certain embodiments, such agaming establishment retail account (e.g., a gaming establishment retailwallet) of a gaming establishment retail wallet system integrates withvarious retail point-of-sale systems throughout the gaming establishment(or located remote from the gaming establishment, but otherwiseassociated with the gaming establishment) to enable users to purchasegoods and/or services via the user's gaming establishment retailaccount. For example, as seen in FIG. 1 , the gaming establishment fundmanagement system includes a gaming establishment retail wallet system(not shown) that maintains a Retail Wallet 114 (e.g., a gamingestablishment retail account) which is in communication with theenterprise wallet 104. In this example, to facilitate the transfer offunds between this gaming establishment retail account and an accountassociated with a retailer to purchase goods and/or services from theretailer, the system utilizes a retail wallet identity, such as a mobiledevice 110 running a mobile device application that interfaces with apoint-of-sale terminal 116 of a retail point-of-sale system 118 of theretailer and/or a physical instrument (e.g., a smart card or a userissued magnetic striped card which the user utilizes in association withthe point-of-sale terminal), and one or more components of the gamingestablishment fund management system to enable a user access to thisgaming establishment retail account. In other embodiments, the gamingestablishment fund management system does not maintain a separate gamingestablishment retail account, but rather utilizes the gamingestablishment retail wallet system as a transaction coordinator toaccount for any transactions to purchase goods and/or services from aretailer.

In certain embodiments, a gaming establishment retail account is aretail account associated with a user having a balance or a pre-paidaccess account which, per current regulations from the U.S. TreasuryDepartment Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”), cannot beconvertible to cash and can only be used for the purchase of goodsand/or services. In these embodiments, such a gaming establishmentretail account integrates with various retail point-of-sale systems ofvarious retail establishments throughout or otherwise associated with agaming establishment to enable users to purchase goods and/or servicesvia the user's gaming establishment retail account. Accordingly, incertain embodiments, based on one or more jurisdictional regulations, anamount of funds deposited in a gaming establishment retail account maybe used with various retail point-of-sale systems throughout the gamingestablishment (or remote from, but otherwise associated with the gamingestablishment) to enable users to purchase goods and/or services, butsuch funds deposited in the gaming establishment retail account cannotbe converted to cash or check. In certain other embodiments, based onone or more different jurisdictional regulations, an amount of fundsdeposited in a gaming establishment retail account, such as an accountassociated with an identified user, may be used with various retailpoint-of-sale systems throughout the gaming establishment (or remotefrom, but otherwise associated with the gaming establishment) to enableusers to purchase goods and/or services wherein such funds deposited inthe gaming establishment retail account may be converted to or otherwiseredeemable for cash or check.

In certain embodiments, the gaming establishment fund management systemis in communication with one or more external funding sources whichmaintain one or more external accounts for the user. For example, asseen in FIG. 1 , the gaming establishment fund management system thatmaintains the enterprise wallet 104 is in communication with an externalfunding system 120 which is in communication with a network of one ormore banks or other financial institutions (i.e., the banking networks122) which operate to electronically transfer funds between the user'saccounts maintained at such banks or financial institutions and one ormore of the accounts maintained by the gaming establishment fundmanagement system. In certain embodiments, such external accountsinclude, but are not limited to, one or more checking accountsmaintained by one or more financial institutions (e.g., one or morebanks and/or credit unions), one or more savings accounts maintained byone or more financial institutions, one or more financial institutionaccounts, such as a brokerage account, maintained by one or morefinancial institutions, one or more credit card accounts maintained byone or more financial institutions, one or more debit card accountsmaintained by one or more financial institutions, and/or one or morethird-party maintained accounts (e.g., one or more PayPal® accounts orVenmo® accounts). It should be appreciated that while illustrated as thegaming establishment fund management system being in communication withone or more external funding sources, in different embodiments, anysystem or sub-system of the present disclosure can be in communicationwith one or more external funding sources. In different embodiments, thesystem utilizes a mobile device running a mobile device application, akiosk, a gaming device (e.g., an interface of an EGM or gaming tablecomponent), a service window displayed by a gaming device (e.g., aremote host controlled service window displayed by an EGM), a componentof a gaming establishment patron management system, such as a playertracking unit, and/or a gaming establishment interface to facilitate thetransfer of funds to/from an external account.

In certain embodiments, the gaming establishment fund management systemis in communication with one or more credit systems which each issue theuser one or more lines of credit or markers. For example, as seen inFIG. 1 , the gaming establishment fund management system that maintainsthe enterprise wallet 104 is in communication with a gamingestablishment credit system (i.e., the credit system 124) to facilitatethe access of an amount of funds via one or more lines of credits. Theselines of credit are accessible to facilitate a transfer of funds fromthe line of credit issued by the credit system to (either directly orindirectly through a cashless wagering account) a credit balance of agaming device, such as an EGM 106 and/or a gaming table 108 a and/or to(either directly or indirectly through a gaming establishment retailaccount) a point-of-sale terminal 116. In certain embodiments and asdescribed below, one or more lines of credit are associated with certainof the gaming establishment accounts in accordance with the overdraftprotection feature of the present disclosure. In other embodiments, oneor more lines of credit are not associated with the gaming establishmentaccounts in accordance with the overdraft protection feature of thepresent disclosure. It should be appreciated that while illustrated asthe gaming establishment fund management system being in communicationwith one or more credit systems, in different embodiments, any system orsub-system of the present disclosure can be in communication with one ormore credit systems. It should be further appreciated that in differentembodiments, the system utilizes a mobile device running a mobile deviceapplication, a kiosk, a gaming device (e.g., an interface of an EGM orgaming table component), a service window displayed by a gaming device(e.g., a remote host controlled service window displayed by an EGM), acomponent of a gaming establishment patron management system, such as aplayer tracking unit, and/or a gaming establishment interface tointerface with the gaming establishment credit system.

In certain embodiments (not shown), the gaming establishment fundmanagement system is also in communication with one or more creditreporting/credit risk systems which monitor and report on variousaccounts associated with the user. For example, the gaming establishmentfund management system that maintains the enterprise wallet is incommunication with one or more credit reporting and risk systems. Thesecredit reporting and risk systems monitor and report on a credit ratingand status of one or more accounts maintained for the user at variousfunding sources, such as various financial institutions. It should beappreciated that while, in certain embodiments, the gaming establishmentfund management system being in communication with one or more creditreporting networks and one or more credit reporting/credit risk systems,in different embodiments, any system or sub-system of the presentdisclosure can be in communication with one or more creditreporting/credit risk systems.

In certain embodiments, the gaming establishment fund management systemis in communication with one or more gaming establishment patronmanagement systems (not shown) that monitor activities at various pointsof contact associated with the gaming establishment and providesrewards, such as redeemable player tracking points, in association withsuch activities. It should be appreciated that while, in certainembodiments, the gaming establishment fund management system is incommunication with one or more gaming establishment patron managementsystems, in different embodiments, any system or sub-system of thepresent disclosure can be in communication with one or more gamingestablishment patron management systems. In different embodiments, thesystem utilizes a mobile device running a mobile device application, akiosk, an interface of a gaming device (e.g., an interface of an EGM orgaming table component), a service window displayed by a gaming device(e.g., a remote host controlled service window displayed by an EGM), acomponent of a gaming establishment patron management system, such as aplayer tracking unit, and/or a gaming establishment interface tointerface with the gaming establishment patron management system.

In certain embodiments, the system utilizes one mobile deviceapplication to interact with the different components of the gamingestablishment fund management system to, amongst other actions, accessfunds maintained in the different gaming establishment accountsassociated with the user. For example, utilizing the same mobileapplication, a mobile device interacts with both the first cashlesswagering system of the gaming establishment fund management system andthe gaming establishment retail wallet system of the gamingestablishment fund management system. In certain embodiments, the systemutilizes multiple mobile device applications to interact with thedifferent components of the gaming establishment fund management systemto, amongst other actions, access funds maintained in the differentgaming establishment accounts associated with the user. In certain ofthese embodiments, the mobile device applications include a locationbased digital wallet enabled application, such as a Passbook-enabled orWallet-enabled application, which is accessible when the user enters agaming establishment. In certain of such embodiments, the mobile deviceapplications are downloaded to the mobile device from an applicationstore. In certain of such embodiments, the mobile device applicationsare downloaded to the mobile device from one or more websites affiliatedwith the gaming establishment (which are accessible directly by the userand/or by a link opened when the user scans a QR code).

It should be appreciated that in different embodiments, in addition toor alternatively from utilizing a mobile device running a mobile deviceapplication to, amongst other actions, access funds associated withdifferent gaming establishment accounts and zero, one or more lines ofcredit, the system utilizes a kiosk, a gaming device (e.g., an interfaceof an EGM or gaming table component), a service window displayed by agaming establishment device (e.g., a remote host controlled servicewindow displayed by an EGM), a display device/input device associatedwith a seat-level gaming table component, a display device/input deviceassociated with a table-level gaming table component, a displaydevice/input device associated with a mobile gaming table component, acomponent of a gaming establishment patron management system, such as aplayer tracking unit, a retail point-of-sale terminal, and/or a gamingestablishment interface, such as a casino desk, to, amongst otheractions, access the funds associated with such gaming establishmentaccounts and zero, one or more lines of credit. It should be furtherappreciated that while illustrated in FIG. 1 as using a mobile devicerunning a mobile device application to access funds associated withdifferent gaming establishment accounts (e.g., a cashless wageringaccount and a gaming establishment retail account) and zero, one or morelines of credit, as mentioned above, a physical instrument, such as asmart card or a user issued magnetic striped card may additionally oralternatively be utilized to enable a user access to such gamingestablishment account.

It should be appreciated that while generally described below asutilizing an overdraft protection feature in association with a gamingestablishment retail transaction, the overdraft protection feature isapplicable for gaming establishment non-retail transactions. That is, inaddition to or alternative from using a line of credit associated with auser to provide overdraft protection for a gaming establishment retailtransaction with funds drawn from a gaming establishment retail account,the system of the present disclosure uses a line of credit associatedwith a user to provide overdraft protection for other gamingestablishment transactions with funds drawn from other gamingestablishment accounts, such as using a line of credit associated with auser to provide overdraft protection for a transfer of funds from agaming establishment wagering account to a gaming device.

In various embodiments, prior to enabling a user to purchase goodsand/or services with funds in a gaming establishment retail account(which are potentially accessed from a line of credit as part of anoverdraft protection feature), a user must first open a gamingestablishment retail account with a gaming establishment retail walletsystem. In these embodiments, utilizing an interface, such as a mobiledevice application being executed by a mobile device, a website accessedfrom a browser, an interface of a retail point-of-sale terminal, and/ora service window displayed by an EGM (or other gaming device), the userattempts to open a gaming establishment retail account through one ormore interactive forms. For example, as part of opening a gamingestablishment retail account, a user (whom has already logged into oneor more gaming establishment fund management system accounts via amobile device application) makes one or more inputs via an interface toprovide certain user identifying information, such as, but not limitedto, additional address details, a social security number and/or amother's maiden name, and/or certain anticipated spending information,such as how the user intends to spend the funds withdrawn from such anaccount if opened.

In one such embodiment, in association with the opening of the account,the user is provided a physical instrument associated with the gamingestablishment patron management system account and/or the gamingestablishment account. In another such embodiment, the user is provideda code to activate their account and/or download a mobile identification(e.g., a mobile pass representing a player tracking card) via logginginto a mobile device application associated with the gamingestablishment or logging into a website associated with the gamingestablishment. In another such embodiment, the user is sent a shortmessage service (“SMS”) text and/or e-mail informing the user how toactivate their account and/or download a mobile identification vialogging into a mobile device application associated with the gamingestablishment or logging into a website associated with the gamingestablishment. In certain embodiments, the system enables a user, suchas a retail patron, to enroll or otherwise sign up for such accounts viaother avenues, such as via picking up a retail account card at variouslocations, such as shops, throughout the gaming establishment, via amobile application running on a mobile device, via a point-of-saleterminal, via an EGM, via a kiosk and/or via adding a retail account toan existing patron account, such as a player tracking account. Inanother embodiment, the system automatically creates a gamingestablishment retail account for a user who is otherwise associated withanother gaming establishment account, such as a cashless wageringaccount.

In certain embodiments, as part of an opening of a gaming establishmentretail account or in association with a previously opened gamingestablishment retail account, the system enables the user to enroll inan overdraft protection feature associated with the gaming establishmentretail account. In these embodiments, the user has the option to optinto linking a line of credit to a gaming establishment retail accountto make purchases using funds from the gaming establishment retailaccount. In certain embodiments, as part of an opening of a gamingestablishment retail account or in association with a previously openedgaming establishment retail account, the system enables the user to optout from an overdraft protection feature associated with the gamingestablishment retail account. In these embodiments, the user has theoption to unlink a line of credit from a gaming establishment retailaccount or otherwise not make use of this feature.

In certain embodiments, in association with opting in or opting out ofthe overdraft protection feature, the system determines zero, one ormore overdraft protection controls or restrictions. In certain suchembodiments, the overdraft protection control or restriction pertains tothe level of user (and/or gaming establishment personnel) involvement inemploying the overdraft protection feature. In these embodiments, thesystem enables the user (and/or gaming establishment personnel) to setthe level of involvement to any of: (i) receiving authorization for eachtransaction that would utilize the overdraft protection feature, (ii)receiving authorization for certain transactions that would utilize theoverdraft protection feature (and automatically employing the overdraftprotection feature for certain transactions if applicable), or (iii) notreceiving any authorization for any transaction that would utilize theoverdraft protection feature (and automatically employing the overdraftprotection feature if applicable). In different embodiments, thedetermination of whether or not to obtain authorization from the user(and/or gaming establishment personnel) to invoke the overdraftprotection feature is based on one or more factors such as, but notlimited to: a status of the user (e.g., a player tracking status of theuser as determined via a patron management system), the amount thatwould be drawn from the line of credit to provide the overdraftprotection, the amount that would be drawn from the line of credit toprovide the overdraft protection relative to a threshold amount, theamount that would be drawn from the line of credit to provide theoverdraft protection relative to a total amount over a period of time,any fees assessed for the amount that would be drawn from the line ofcredit to provide the overdraft protection, and/or any fees assessed forthe amount that would be drawn from the line of credit to provide theoverdraft protection relative to a threshold amount.

In certain embodiments, the overdraft protection control or restrictionadditionally or alternatively pertains to employed limitations inemploying the overdraft protection feature. In these embodiments, suchuse limitations pertain to the frequency of access to the overdraftprotection feature and/or the amounts accessed from the overdraftprotection feature. In one such embodiment, the system invokes a limiton the number of times the overdraft protection feature may be employedper period of time. For example, the system limits the user to only twoinstances of using the overdraft protection feature per period of time,such as per week, per month, or per day. In another such embodiment, thesystem invokes a limit to the amount of the line of credit that may beutilized for the overdraft protection feature. For example, the systemlimits a user's overdraft protection line of credit to $1000. In anothersuch embodiment, the system invokes a limit to the amount of the line ofcredit that may be utilized for the overdraft protection feature per aperiod of time, wherein this limit is different from an overdraftprotection line of credit limit. For example, a user's overdraftprotection line of credit may be $1000, and the user may have a limit of$2000 in overdraft protection usage per month, so if a user draws downtheir full overdraft protection line of credit, then pays it back, thendraws it down again and pays it back, all within the same month, thenthey are no longer eligible for overdraft protection until the beginningof the next time period (e.g., the next month). In differentembodiments, the determination of whether or not to employ such limitson invoking the overdraft protection feature is based on one or morefactors such as, but not limited to: a status of the user (e.g., aplayer tracking status of the user as determined via a patron managementsystem), a discretion of gaming establishment personnel (e.g., a gamingestablishment operator could override an overdraft protection limit thatis stopping a high-limit user from making a large transaction in ahigh-limit poker room if the gaming establishment operator knows theuser is a trusted user of relatively high enough net worth), ahistorical spend of the user, and/or historical line of credit activityof the user.

In certain embodiments, the overdraft protection controls additionallyor alternatively pertains to gaming establishment level limitations inemploying the overdraft protection feature. In these embodiments, thedetermination of whether or not to offer access to the overdraftprotection feature is based on zero, one or more parameters of thegaming establishment and/or the gaming establishment credit system. Putdifferently, in addition to employing user specific limitations onoffering the overdraft protection feature, the gaming establishmentcorporate entity or gaming establishment site employs overdraftprotection limits to limit corporate liability beyond any particularuser. For example, a gaming establishment site has access to $1,000,000of outstanding overdraft protection across all users to limit per gamingestablishment site corporate liability. In this example, during theoverdraft protection activation process, the system evaluates manydifferent limits or configurations (i.e., user specific, site-levelspecific, corporate or jurisdiction level specific) to determine if theuser has access at that point in time to overdraft protection.

In certain embodiments, the overdraft protection controls areadditionally or alternatively associated with the amount of thetransaction attempted to be made, such as the amount of the retailpurchase attempted. In these embodiments, certain retail purchaseshaving a value above a threshold value that trigger the use of one ormore overdraft protection controls while other retail purchases thathave a value below the threshold value do not trigger such overdraftprotection controls. In certain embodiments, the overdraft protectioncontrols are additionally or alternatively associated with the type ofgood and/or service of the retail purchase attempted to be made. Inthese embodiments, certain types of retail purchases trigger the use ofone or more overdraft protection controls while other types of retailpurchases do not trigger such overdraft protection controls. Forexample, a first category of purchases, such as food and beveragepurchases, can be made without triggering any overdraft protectioncontrols while a second category of purchases, such as clothing retailoutlets and entertainment related charges, trigger one or more overdraftprotection controls that must be satisfied before the completion of suchpurchases.

In certain embodiments, the overdraft protection controls areadditionally or alternatively associated with a location of thetransaction attempted to be made, such as a location of the retailpurchase attempted to be made. In these embodiments, different locationswhere the funds may be used are associated with different overdraftprotection controls required to use such funds. For example, theemployment of an overdraft protection feature in association with atransaction attempted in association with a first location, such as agaming establishment gift shop, do not trigger the use of one or moreoverdraft protection controls while the employment of an overdraftprotection feature in association with a transaction attempted inassociation with a second location, such as a gaming establishment nightclub, trigger one or more overdraft protection controls.

In certain embodiments, the overdraft protection controls areadditionally or alternatively associated with a channel of commerce inwhich the transaction is attempted to be made. In these embodiments,different channels of commerce where the funds may be used areassociated with different overdraft protection controls required to usesuch funds. In certain embodiments, the overdraft protection controlsare additionally or alternatively associated with a time of when theattempted transaction is attempted to be made. In certain embodiments,the overdraft protection controls are additionally or alternativelyassociated with an amount of funds currently maintained in a gamingestablishment account associated with a user. In certain embodiments,the overdraft protection controls are additionally or alternativelyassociated with a current rate of consumption of the funds in one ormore gaming establishment accounts maintained for the user. In one suchembodiment, the rate of consumption is based on an amount oftransactions made using funds from a gaming establishment account over aset period of time, such as the current day. In another such embodiment,the rate of consumption is based on an amount of transactions made usingfunds from a gaming establishment account over a rolling period of time,such as the past 24 hours. It should be appreciated that in differentembodiments, the system employs a combination of these overdraftprotection controls to determine whether or not the overdraft protectionfeature is permitted.

In certain embodiments, the system employs the same overdraft protectioncontrols for each user whom attempts to complete a transaction withfunds at least partially obtained from a line of credit. In certainembodiments, the system employs different overdraft protection controlsfor different users whom attempt to complete a transaction with funds atleast partially obtained from a line of credit. In certain of theseembodiments, the system utilizes historical data regarding the user andpast gaming establishment transactions in determining one or moreaspects of one or more overdraft protection controls to associate withthat user. In certain of these embodiments, the system utilizes one ormore attributes of the user, such as a player tracking account status ofthe user, in determining one or more aspects of one or more overdraftprotection controls to associate with that user.

In certain embodiments, in association with a linking of a line ofcredit to a gaming establishment account, the user needs to establishthe line of credit with a gaming establishment credit system. In certainsuch embodiments, this includes a user applying for a line of credit(with or without presenting a check or other bank account information inthe event the line of credit is not paid back by the user) and thecredit system approving the line of credit for up to a set amount offunds. Following the establishment of the line of credit, the systemenables the user to utilize any suitable interface to view informationabout one or more issued lines of credit (e.g., an available amount offunds associated with the line of credit and/or an amount of fundsassociated with the line of credit previously accessed) as well as thebalance of zero, one or more gaming establishment accounts.

In certain embodiments, the system employs a line of credit that may beaccessed to draw funds directly from and may also be accessed to drawfunds from to protect a gaming establishment account from beingoverdrawn. Such a line of credit has universal applicability fordifferent types of transactions requested by a user. In certainembodiments, the system employs different types of lines of credit fordifferent types of transactions requested by a user. In theseembodiments, certain lines of credit are available in association withan overdraft protection feature and certain lines of credit are notavailable in association with an overdraft protection feature. In otherwords, the gaming establishment credit system maintains multipledistinct and separate lines of credit such as a line of credit that maybe accessed to draw funds directly from and a line of credit that may beaccessed to draw funds from to protect a gaming establishment accountfrom being overdrawn.

In certain embodiments, the system employs the same limits to differentlines of credit associated with the same user. In certain embodiments,the system employs different limits to different lines of creditassociated with the same user. For example, the system employs a firstline of credit associated with a limit of $10,000 that a user may accessat their discretion for gaming, and a second, distinct line of credit of$1,000 that may user may access for overdraft protection. In certainembodiments, the system employs the same repayment terms and/or fees todifferent lines of credit associated with the same user. In certainembodiments, the system employs different repayment terms and/ordifferent fees to different lines of credit associated with the sameuser. For example, a gaming establishment credit system may charge 2%per day for all outstanding amounts on a user's line of credit, but maycharge a flat $15 fee whenever an overdraft protection feature is usedand an additional 5% on the unpaid balance per day.

It should be appreciated that certain jurisdictional regulations and/orgaming establishment policies require the user to approve a transactionto access the funds on their issued line of credit. In one suchembodiment, the user acknowledges the approval of accessing the line ofcredit, when needed, such as to employ an overdraft protection feature,by entering a personal identification number (“PIN”) via the mobiledevice application, providing a signature and/or presenting a biometricidentifier to the mobile device. In another embodiment, the useracknowledges the approval of accessing the line of credit, when needed,such as to employ an overdraft protection feature, by entering a PIN,providing a signature and/or presenting a biometric identifier to aretail point-of-sale terminal or a peripheral device associated with theretail point-of-sale terminal.

Following the gaming establishment fund management system and/or thegaming establishment retail system determining to authorize the user tomake retail purchases subject to zero, one or more overdraft protectionmeasures, then following any required acknowledgement by the user of anyrequired terms and conditions associated with using a gamingestablishment retail account to purchase goods and/or servicesassociated with the gaming establishment, the gaming establishment fundmanagement system and/or the gaming establishment retail system notifiesthe user, if applicable, regarding the different ways the user may payfor retail purchases utilizing funding options provided by the gamingestablishment fund management system. For example, the gamingestablishment fund management system and/or the gaming establishmentretail system notifies the user, via one or more of a message displayedon a displayed message at a gaming establishment device (e.g., an EGM ora retail point-of-sale terminal), an email, a SMS or text message,and/or a notification displayed by a mobile device application. Forexample, as seen in FIG. 2A, the system employs a mobile device 210executing a mobile device application 220 to display to a user a message230 a regarding the current balance of a gaming establishment retailaccount and the availability of overdraft protection for this gamingestablishment retail account.

In certain embodiments, to facilitate the transfer of funds from agaming establishment retail account to an account associated with aretailer to purchase goods and/or services from the retailer, the userpresents a retail wallet identity (e.g., a physical card associated withthe gaming establishment retail account, a mobile device running amobile device application associated with the gaming establishmentretail account, or a mobile device that presents an identity associatedwith the user or the user's gaming establishment retail account) topotentially access the funds in the gaming establishment retail accountfor the purchase transaction. In these embodiments, upon thepresentation of the retail wallet identity at an applicablepoint-of-sale terminal of a retail point-of-sale system within orotherwise associated with the gaming establishment for the purchase ofgoods and/or services, the system determines whether or not to completethe attempted retail purchase. For example, when a purchase of goodsand/or services is attempted to be made with funds from a gamingestablishment retail account using a mobile device application at apoint-of-sale terminal, the mobile device application prompts the userto cause the mobile device to engage the point-of-sale terminal, such asprompting the user to tap the mobile device to a designated portion ofthe point-of-sale terminal (or otherwise moving the mobile device towithin a designated distance of a designated location of thepoint-of-sale terminal). Such engagement initiates a pairing or linkagebetween the mobile device and the point-of-sale terminal (or a componentof a gaming establishment fund management system located inside thepoint-of-sale terminal (i.e., a component of the point-of-saleterminal)), wherein the pairing or linkage between the mobile device andthe point-of-sale terminal occurs via one or more applications being runor executed on the mobile device. In this example, after suchengagement, the mobile device application communicates, via a wirelesscommunication protocol (including, but not limited to: Bluetooth™,Bluetooth™ Low Energy (“BLE”), one or more cellular communicationstandards (e.g., 3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, LTE), one or more Wi-Fi compatiblestandards, and one or more short range communication protocols (e.g., anear field communication (“NFC”) protocol), data associated with theretail wallet identity to the point-of-sale terminal to facilitate thepotential purchase of goods and/or services. In various embodiments, inaddition to or alternative from attempting to make purchases of goodsand/or services with funds in a gaming establishment retail account at apoint-of-sale terminal, the system of the present disclosure enables auser to attempt to make purchases of goods and/or services with funds ina gaming establishment retail account via any suitable interface, suchas a user interface of an EGM, a user interface of a gaming tablecomponent associated with a gaming table, a kiosk, a mobile deviceapplication being executed by a mobile device, a service windowdisplayed by a gaming device (e.g., a remote host controlled servicewindow displayed by an EGM), and/or a gaming establishment interface(e.g., a casino desk).

In various embodiments, upon receiving data or information regarding theretail wallet identity, the retail point-of-sale system interfaces with,such as via one or more application programming interfaces, the gamingestablishment fund management system to determine if the gamingestablishment retail account has adequate funds for the intendedpurchase. Upon receiving the request of the determined amount of fundsand logging the user into a gaming establishment account associated withthe user (if necessary), a component of the gaming establishment retailwallet system (and/or another component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system) determines whether to authorize the transfer of thedetermined amount of funds. In these embodiments, the component of thegaming establishment retail wallet system (e.g., one or more servers ofthe retail wallet system) and/or the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system (e.g., one or more servers of agaming establishment fund management system) determines whether thegaming establishment retail account includes an amount of funds at leastequal to the requested amount of funds to complete the transaction.

If the gaming establishment retail wallet system (and/or anothercomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system) confirmsthe presence of adequate funds in the gaming establishment retailaccount, the retail point-of-sale system (and/or the gamingestablishment fund management system) authorizes the sale of the goodsand/or services. The gaming establishment retail wallet system (and/oranother component of the gaming establishment fund management system)then proceeds to transfer an amount of funds to cover the purchasedgoods and/or services from the gaming establishment retail account to anaccount associated with the retail point-of-sale system (and/or theretail establishment) to complete the purchase of the goods and/orservices. In these embodiments, if the component of the gamingestablishment retail wallet system (and/or another component of thegaming establishment fund management system) determines to authorize thedetermined amount of funds because the amount of funds in the gamingestablishment retail account at least equals the requested amount offunds to complete the purchase transaction, the component of the gamingestablishment retail wallet system (and/or another component of thegaming establishment fund management system) updates the gamingestablishment retail account associated with the user (to reflect thetransfer out of the requested amount of funds) and communicates anauthorization to the point-of-sale terminal. Such a transfer of funds tocomplete the purchase of the goods and/or services is associated with atransaction identification which one or more components of the systemstore for reporting purposes.

It should be appreciated that in certain embodiments, upon the gamingestablishment fund management system determining that the entire amountof the requested amount of funds to complete the purchase transactionare available from the gaming establishment retail account maintained bythe gaming establishment fund management system, the requestedtransaction is completed without accessing any lines of credit as anyoverdraft protection. As such, certain embodiments of transferring fundsfrom a gaming establishment account to complete a retail purchaseinvolve the user requesting, via an interface, an amount of funds to betransferred to complete the purchase, and if the requested amount offunds can be covered by the funds currently associated with a gamingestablishment retail account maintained by the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, facilitate the transfer of fundsfrom the gaming establishment retail account without accessing any fundsfrom any lines of credit employed to provide overdraft protection.

On the other hand, if the gaming establishment retail wallet system(and/or another component of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem) indicates that the gaming establishment retail account lacksadequate funds for the purchase, the gaming establishment retail walletsystem (and/or another component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system) determines whether to employ any overdraft protectionfeatures to potentially facilitate the completion of the purchasetransaction. In these embodiments, the determination of whether tocomplete the attempted purchase transaction when the gamingestablishment retail account lacks the funds to otherwise complete thepurchase transaction is based on whether the gaming establishment retailaccount is associated with any overdraft protection features, whetherany overdraft protection features comply with any overdraft protectioncontrols in place and whether an amount of funds of the line of creditassociated with the overdraft protection feature is available tofacilitate the transaction.

In these embodiments, if a determination occurs that the gamingestablishment retail account is not associated with any overdraftprotection features backed by any lines of credit, the gamingestablishment retail wallet system (and/or another component of thegaming establishment fund management system) denies the purchasetransaction because the gaming establishment retail account lacksadequate funds. In other words, if a gaming establishment retail accountis not associated with enough of a balance to fund an attempted saletransaction and no overdraft protection features are available for thegaming establishment retail account, the retail point-of-sale system(and/or the gaming establishment fund management system) denies the saletransaction of the goods and/or services using the gaming establishmentretail account. In certain embodiments, the system utilizes the denialof the attempted purchase to offer the user the opportunity to sign upfor overdraft protection backed by a line of credit.

In certain embodiments, even if the gaming establishment retail accountis associated with overdraft protection backed by a line of credit, if adetermination occurs that the employment of the overdraft protectionviolates any applicable overdraft protection controls, the gamingestablishment retail wallet system (and/or another component of thegaming establishment fund management system) denies the purchasetransaction. For example, if an overdraft protection control requiresthat a user authorize each transaction in which a line of credit isaccessed to provide overdraft protection and the user has denied theaccessing of the line of credit (or not affirmatively providedauthorization) following a determination that the gaming establishmentaccount lacks adequate funds to complete the purchase, the overdraftprotection control prevents the access to the line of credit to providethe overdraft protection and prevents the purchase transaction frombeing completed.

On the other hand, following a determination that the gamingestablishment retail account lacks adequate funds to complete theattempted retail transaction, if a determination occurs that therequested transaction complies with any applicable overdraft protectioncontrols, the gaming establishment retail wallet system (and/or anothercomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system) interfaceswith, such as via one or more application programming interfaces, acomponent of a gaming establishment credit system (e.g., one or moreservers of a gaming establishment credit system) to determine if thedifference between the amount of funds to complete the transaction andany funds in the gaming establishment retail account can be drawn from aline of credit associated with the user. That is, following adetermination that a shortfall exists between the amount of funds neededto complete the purchase and the amount of funds available to betransferred from the gaming establishment retail account, a component ofthe gaming establishment credit system determines whether or not toauthorize that the shortfall be covered by an amount of funds activatedfrom a line of credit employed to offer overdraft protection. In otherwords, if the system determines that the balance of the gamingestablishment retail account associated with the user lacks sufficientfunds to cover the attempted purchase, the system queries the gamingestablishment credit system to determine if the user has a sufficientline of credit balance to, when combined with funds available from thegaming establishment retail account, at least equal the amount of fundsassociated with the attempted purchase.

In certain embodiments, following receipt, from the component of thegaming establishment fund management system, of data associated with anamount of funds to be accessed from the line of credit (that, whencombined with any contribution of any funds from any gamingestablishment retail account, form the amount of funds to be transferredas part of the purchase transaction), the gaming establishment creditsystem logs the user into the gaming establishment credit system (ifnecessary) and requests an activation of the amount of funds to beaccessed from the line of credit of the user. The gaming establishmentcredit system then proceeds with determining whether to complete thetransfer of the amount of funds to be accessed from the line of creditof the user.

In certain embodiments, to complete a transfer of the amount of fundsassociated with a line of credit to account for any shortfall in thefunds otherwise in the gaming establishment retail account, the gamingestablishment credit system determines whether to authorize theactivation of the amount of funds from the line of credit. If thecomponent of the credit system determines not to authorize the transferof the amount of funds to be accessed from the line of credit of theuser, the system communicates data to the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system denying the request of fundsaccessed from the line of credit of the user. For example, if the gamingestablishment credit system determines that an amount of funds availablefor a line of credit is less than the requested amount of funds neededto complete the purchase, the gaming establishment credit system deniesthe activation of funds from the line of credit and does not otherwiseinvoke usage of the overdraft protection feature associated with thegaming establishment retail account. Without access to the funds fromthe line of credit of the user and aware that the amount of funds in thegaming establishment retail account are insufficient to cover theattempted purchase, the gaming establishment fund management systemcommunicates a denial of the attempted purchase to the retailpoint-of-sale terminal. In these embodiments, even if the gamingestablishment retail account is associated with overdraft protectionbacked by a line of credit, if the component of the credit systemdetermines that the amount of funds available from the line of creditare inadequate (or otherwise in violation of one or more overdraftprotection controls), when combined with any funds from the gamingestablishment retail account, to cover the amount of the purchase, thesystem does not proceed with the purchase. In certain embodiments, thesystem utilizes the denial of the purchase to offer the user theopportunity to apply to increase the current limit associated with theline of credit employed for overdraft protection. In certain otherembodiments, the gaming establishment fund management system and/or thegaming establishment retail system notifies the user, via one or more ofa message displayed on a displayed message at a gaming establishmentdevice, an email, a SMS or text message, and/or a notification displayedby a mobile device application of the reasons for denying thetransaction. For example, as seen in FIG. 2B, the system employs amobile device 210 executing a mobile device application 220 to displayto a user a message 230 b regarding the current balance of a gamingestablishment retail account and the amount available from the overdraftprotection feature not collectively being enough to complete thepurchase.

On the other hand, if the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem determines to authorize the transfer the amount of funds to beaccessed from the line of credit of the user, the component of thegaming establishment credit system operates with the component of thegaming establishment fund management system to activate an amount offunds from the line of credits, issue a marker associated with the fundsactivated from the line of credit and then transfer the activated amountof funds to facilitate the completion of the transaction. In theseembodiments, if the gaming establishment credit system determines toauthorize the activation of the amount of funds from the line of credit,the gaming establishment credit system updates the amount available ofthe line of credit (to reflect the amount drawn from the line ofcredit), issues a marker for the amount drawn from the line of creditand communicates an authorization of the amount of funds to the gamingestablishment fund management system. Upon receiving the authorization,the gaming establishment fund management system updates a balance of agaming establishment retail account by the amount of funds activatedfrom the line of credit.

Following the transfer of funds activated from the line of credit to thegaming establishment retail account and aware that the amount of fundsnow in the gaming establishment retail account at least equals therequested amount of funds to complete the purchase transaction, thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system operateswith the component of the gaming establishment retail system to completethe transaction. That is, upon the gaming establishment retail walletsystem (and/or another component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system) confirming the presence of adequate funds in thegaming establishment retail account, the retail point-of-sale system(and/or the gaming establishment fund management system) authorizes thesale of the goods and/or services. The gaming establishment retailwallet system (and/or another component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system) then proceeds to transfer an amount of funds to coverthe purchased goods and/or services from the gaming establishment retailaccount to an account associated with the retail point-of-sale system(and/or the retail establishment) to complete the purchase of the goodsand/or services. In these embodiments, if the component of the gamingestablishment retail wallet system (and/or another component of thegaming establishment fund management system) determines to authorize thedetermined amount of funds because the amount of funds currently in thegaming establishment retail account at least equals the requested amountof funds to complete the purchase transaction, the component of thegaming establishment retail wallet system (and/or another component ofthe gaming establishment fund management system) updates the gamingestablishment retail account associated with the user (to reflect thetransfer out of the requested amount of funds) and communicates anauthorization to the point-of-sale terminal. Such a transfer of funds tocomplete the purchase of the goods and/or services is associated with atransaction identification which one or more components of the systemstore for reporting purposes. In certain embodiments, the gamingestablishment fund management system and/or the gaming establishmentretail system notifies the user, via one or more of a message displayedon a displayed message at a gaming establishment device, an email, a SMSor text message, and/or a notification displayed by a mobile deviceapplication of the completion of the transaction, the current balancesof one or more accounts and/or lines of credits and any repayment termsof the amount drawn from the line of credit as overdraft protection. Forexample, as seen in FIG. 2C, the system employs a mobile device 210executing a mobile device application 220 to display to a user a message230 c regarding the current balance of a gaming establishment retailaccount and the current balance of the amount owed on the line of creditused for overdraft protection.

Accordingly, a plurality of different components of the system of thepresent disclosure (i.e., a retail point-of-sale terminal, a retailpoint-of-sale system, a gaming establishment retail system, a gamingestablishment fund management system and a gaming establishment creditsystem) interact with each other to potentially enable a user topurchase goods and/or services using an amount of funds activated from aline of credit in association with an overdraft protection feature of agaming establishment retail account. It should be appreciated that toaccount for any timing restrictions and/or authorization amountrestrictions associated with the use of funds drawn from the line ofcredit to complete the purchase transaction, these different componentsof the system interact with each other to provide that the transactionsof the activation of the funds from the line of credit, the issuance ofthe marker for the funds activated from the line of credit and thetransfer of any funds previously residing in the gaming establishmentretail account are linked together (via a transaction identifier) suchthat the user is presented these separate transactions as a singletransaction.

It should be appreciated that, as mentioned above, while generallydescribed as utilizing an overdraft protection feature in associationwith a gaming establishment retail transaction, the overdraft protectionfeature is applicable for gaming establishment non-retail transactions.That is, in addition to or alternative from using a line of creditassociated with a user to provide overdraft protection for a gamingestablishment retail transaction with funds drawn from a gamingestablishment retail account, the system of the present disclosure usesa line of credit associated with a user to provide overdraft protectionfor other gaming establishment transactions with funds drawn from othergaming establishment accounts, such as using a line of credit associatedwith a user to provide overdraft protection for a transfer of funds froma gaming establishment wagering account to a gaming device. In certainembodiments wherein the gaming establishment device is an EGM, followingthe transfer of the requested amount of funds to a gaming establishmentaccount (sourced, at least in part, by accessing a line of creditassociated with the gaming establishment account via an overdraftprotection feature), the transferred amounts of funds are available forwagering by the user at the EGM. In certain other embodiments, whereinthe gaming establishment device is a gaming table component, followingthe transfer of the requested amount of funds (sourced, at least inpart, by accessing a line of credit associated with the gamingestablishment account via an overdraft protection feature), gamingestablishment personnel issue the user at the gaming table an amount ofgaming chips (corresponding to the amount of transferred funds) forwagering on one or more plays of one or more games at the gaming table.In certain such embodiments, the gaming table component causes a displaydevice to display instructions to gaming establishment personnel toissue the user an amount of gaming chips corresponding to the amount oftransferred funds and/or causes a printer to generate a receipt withinstructions to gaming establishment personnel to issue the user anamount of gaming chips corresponding to the amount of transferred funds.It should be appreciated that in these embodiments, since the user hasidentified themselves to the gaming table component (e.g., via thegaming device interface and/or the mobile device application which theuser has logged into) and since the fund transfer requests also includesdata identifying the user, the information displayed to the gamingestablishment personnel includes identifying information regarding theuser to issue the gaming chips to. In one such embodiment, theidentifying information includes the user's name. In another suchembodiment, the identifying information additionally or alternativelyincludes the seat at the gaming table where the user is located. Inanother such embodiment, the identifying information additionally oralternatively includes a picture of the user.

In these embodiments, following providing instructions to gamingestablishment personnel to issue the identified user an amount of gamingchips corresponding to the amount of transferred funds and following thegaming establishment personnel making one or more inputs indicating acompletion of the issuance of the amount of gaming chips correspondingto the amount of transferred funds, the gaming table component causes areceipt to be generated associated with the issuance of the amount ofgaming chips. In one such embodiment, the receipt is a physical receiptwhich the gaming establishment personnel deposited in a drop box orotherwise retains until submitted to the gaming establishment. Inanother such embodiment, the receipt is a virtual receipt which iscommunicated to one or more gaming establishment accounting servers. Itshould be appreciated that in these embodiments, since the issuance ofchips from an electronic transfer of funds to the gaming table must beaccounted for when reconciling the transactions associated with thegaming table, the gaming table component causes the generation of areceipt to memorialize the electronic transaction. For example, if adealer at a gaming table provides the user a quantity of gaming chipscorresponding to the amount of funds electronically transferred to thegaming table component, the dealer deposits the printed receipt into adropbox at the gaming table such that at the end of the dealer's shift,the gaming chip tray is balanced when accounting for the cash which thedealer exchanged for gaming chips and the electronic fund transferswhich the dealer exchanged for gaming chips. In another example, if agaming establishment mobile staff member servicing an area with multiplegaming tables provides a user a quantity of gaming chips correspondingto the amount of funds electronically transferred to the mobile gamingtable component carried by the mobile staff member, the mobile staffmember deposits the printed receipt into a pouch or folder they carrywith them such that at the end of the mobile staff member's shift, thegaming chips initially provided to the mobile staff member is balancedwhen accounting for the cash which the mobile staff member exchanged forgaming chips and the electronic fund transfers which the mobile staffmember exchanged for gaming chips.

In certain embodiments wherein the gaming establishment device is agaming table component, the gaming table is an intelligent gaming tablewhich enables one or more users to play one or more suitable games byplacing one or more wagers utilizing gaming chips. In this embodiment,the gaming table component is part of (or otherwise associated with) theintelligent gaming table and includes zero, one or more input devices(to receive inputs to facilitate the electronic transfer of funds to andfrom the gaming table component), and zero, one or more display devices(to display information to the user and/or gaming establishmentpersonnel regarding the electronic transfer of funds to and from thegaming table component). In certain embodiments, the gaming tablecomponent additionally includes a communication interface (such as awireless communication interface to communicate with a mobile deviceregarding the electronic transfer of funds to and from the gaming tablecomponent) and/or a printer (to generate a receipt regarding theelectronic transfer of funds to and from the gaming table component).

In certain embodiments wherein the gaming establishment device is agaming table component, the gaming table is a non-intelligent gamingtable including a suitable support structure, such as one or more legs,a playing surface and a dealer position. In this embodiment, the gamingtable component is separate from but associated with the gaming tableand includes zero, one or more input devices (to receive inputs tofacilitate the electronic transfer of funds to and from the gaming tablecomponent), and zero, one or more display devices (to displayinformation to the user and/or gaming establishment personnel regardingthe electronic transfer of funds to and from the gaming tablecomponent). In certain embodiments, the gaming table componentadditionally includes or is otherwise associated with a communicationinterface (such as a wireless communication interface to communicatewith a mobile device regarding the electronic transfer of funds to andfrom the gaming table component), a player identification deviceassociated with the gaming table (such as a card reader to enable theplayer to log into the gaming table) and/or a printer (to generate areceipt regarding the electronic transfer of funds to and from thegaming table component).

In certain embodiments wherein the gaming establishment device is agaming table component, regardless of if an intelligent gaming table ora non-intelligent gaming table are utilized, the gaming table componentis a mobile gaming table component associated with one or more of suchgaming tables. In this embodiment, the mobile gaming table component isassociated with gaming establishment personnel. For example, a tablet ormobile device associated with a gaming establishment mobile staff memberqualifies as a mobile gaming table component. In these embodiments, themobile gaming table component includes zero, one or more input devices(to receive inputs to facilitate the electronic transfer of funds to andfrom the gaming table component), and zero, one or more display devices(to display information to the user and/or gaming establishmentpersonnel regarding the electronic transfer of funds to and from thegaming table component). The mobile gaming table component additionallyincludes or is otherwise associated with a communication interface (suchas a wireless communication interface to communicate with a mobiledevice regarding the electronic transfer of funds to and from the gamingtable component), a player identification device associated with thegaming table (such as a card reader to enable the player to log into thegaming table) and/or a printer (to generate a receipt regarding theelectronic transfer of funds to and from the gaming table component).

In certain embodiments, the coordination of transferring funds to agaming establishment device from a gaming establishment account and/or aline of credit is executed by a component of the gaming establishmentfund management system and/or a component of the gaming establishmentcredit system. In certain such embodiments, the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system queries the component of the gamingestablishment credit system (or vice-a-versa) if a shortfall existsbetween the amount of funds requested to complete the transfer and theamount of funds available from the gaming establishment accountmaintained by the gaming establishment fund management system and/or theamount of funds available from a line of credit associated with theuser. In certain other embodiments, the coordination of transferringfunds to a gaming establishment device from a gaming establishmentaccount and/or a line of credit is executed by the gaming establishmentdevice. In certain such embodiments, the gaming establishment devicequeries the component of the gaming establishment fund management systemand/or the component of the gaming establishment credit system if ashortfall exists between the amount of funds requested and the amount offunds available from the gaming establishment account maintained by thegaming establishment fund management system and/or the amount of fundsavailable from a line of credit associated with the user.

It should be appreciated that while the requested amount of fundstransferred to the gaming establishment device are sourced as multipletransactions from one or more funding systems (e.g., a gamingestablishment fund management system and a gaming establishment creditsystem), and while each transaction is associated with a uniquetransaction identifier, these multiple transactions are grouped togetherusing a master transaction identifier. That is, while data associatedwith each of these multiple transactions are individually stored in adatabase in association with each transaction's unique transactionidentifier, to facilitate tracking and coordination of these multipletransactions derived from a single fund transfer request, these uniquetransaction identifiers are further stored in association with themaster transaction identifier. It should be appreciated that while eachindividual transfer of funds of the system of the present disclosure maybe associated with an individual unique transaction identifier, incertain embodiments, each individual modification of one or moreaccounts are also associated with individual unique transactionidentifiers that are linked to one or more most transaction identifiers.

In certain embodiments, the employment of a master transactionidentifier linked to individual unique transaction identifiers enablesthe efficient voiding of any transaction. In these embodiments, whenvoiding a transaction, since the system must void multiple separatelyoccurring transactions that each individually contributed to completingthe requested transaction, the master transaction identifier is used toidentify the various individual transactions that occurred that need tobe individually voided. In certain embodiments, the employment of amaster transaction identifier linked to individual unique transactionidentifiers enables any receipt, whether printed or virtual, to includedetails about the master transaction as well as the associatedindividual transactions. That is, while the multiple completedindividual transactions associated with transferring funds from multiplefunding sources are conveyed to the user as a single transaction and donot require the user to initiate multiple transactions, any record ofthe funding transaction made available to the user includes the detailsof each individual transaction for the user's reference.

In various embodiments, prior to using funds in a gaming establishmentretail account to purchase goods and/or services with or without the aidof overdraft protection backed by a line of credit, the system enablesthe gaming establishment retail account to be funded from one or moresources. In certain embodiments, the system enables the gamingestablishment retail account to be directly funded from one or more ofsuch sources. In certain embodiments, the system enables the gamingestablishment retail account to be indirectly funded from one or more ofsuch sources, such as by an amount of funds from such sources firstbeing transferred to another gaming establishment account and then suchan amount of funds being transferred from the other gaming establishmentaccount to the gaming establishment retail account.

In certain embodiments, the gaming establishment fund management accountis associated with one or more external accounts, such as one or morecredit card accounts, one or more debit card accounts and/or one or morethird-party maintained accounts (e.g., one or more PayPal® accounts orVenmo® accounts). In certain embodiments, the gaming establishment fundmanagement account is associated with a gaming establishment or a groupof gaming establishments, wherein the user establishes a gamingestablishment fund management account, such as a gaming establishmentretail account, by a deposit of funds (such as at a kiosk) to besubsequently utilized in association with the mobile device application.In other embodiments, the gaming establishment fund management account,such as a gaming establishment retail account, is funded via a mobiledevice electronic fund transfer, such using Apple Pay™ or Android Pay™.In these embodiments, the line of credit utilized for overdraftprotection may be utilized to account for any timing delays betweenrequesting funds from such external accounts and the completion of thetransfer of such funds from these external accounts. It should beappreciated that in different embodiments, the system utilizes a mobiledevice running a mobile device application, a kiosk, an EGM, a gamingtable component, a service window displayed by a gaming device (e.g., aremote host controlled service window displayed by an EGM) and/or agaming establishment interface to facilitate the transfer of funds froma third-party account. In certain embodiments, the system enables fundsto be deposited in a gaming establishment fund management account, suchas a gaming establishment retail account, via activating a line ofcredit or marker associated with the user.

In certain embodiments, the system enables funds to be deposited in agaming establishment fund management account, such as a gamingestablishment retail account, via a gaming device, such as an EGM. Incertain embodiments, the system enables a user that has an amount ofcash to utilize a gaming device to convert the cash to an amountdeposited into a gaming establishment fund management account (which maybe subsequently transferred utilizing a mobile device application). Inother embodiments, the system enables funds to be deposited in a gamingestablishment fund management account via a gaming device that acceptsprinted ticket vouchers. In these embodiments, the system enables a userthat has one or more printed ticket vouchers to utilize a gaming deviceto convert the printed ticket voucher to an amount deposited into agaming establishment fund management account (which may be subsequentlytransferred utilizing a mobile device application).

In certain embodiments, the system enables funds to be deposited in agaming establishment fund management account, such as a gamingestablishment retail account, via a gaming establishment interface, suchas a gaming establishment cage or desk. In certain embodiments, thesystem enables a user that has an amount of cash to utilize a gamingestablishment interface, such as a gaming establishment cage or desk toconvert the cash to an amount deposited into a gaming establishment fundmanagement account (which may be subsequently transferred utilizing amobile device application). In other embodiments, the system enablesfunds to be deposited in a gaming establishment fund management accountvia a gaming establishment interface that accepts printed ticketvouchers. In these embodiments, the system enables a user that has oneor more printed ticket vouchers to utilize a gaming establishmentinterface to convert the printed ticket voucher to an amount depositedinto a gaming establishment fund management account (which may besubsequently transferred utilizing a mobile device application).

In certain embodiments, the system enables funds to be deposited in agaming establishment fund management account, such as a gamingestablishment retail account, via a kiosk that accepts money. In certainembodiments, the system enables a user that has an amount of cash toutilize a kiosk to convert the cash to an amount deposited into a gamingestablishment fund management account (which may be subsequentlytransferred to a gaming device utilizing a mobile device application).In other embodiments, the system enables funds to be deposited in agaming establishment fund management account via a kiosk that acceptsprinted ticket vouchers. In certain embodiments, the system enables auser that has one or more printed ticket vouchers to utilize a kiosk toconvert the printed ticket voucher to an amount deposited into a gamingestablishment fund management account (which may be subsequentlytransferred to a gaming device utilizing a mobile device application).

In certain embodiments, the gaming establishment fund managementaccount, such as a gaming establishment retail account, is associatedwith funds associated with one or more virtual ticket vouchers. Incertain embodiments, the system enables a user associated with an amountof virtual ticket vouchers to utilize a gaming device (e.g., an EGM, acomponent of an EGM) a mobile device running a mobile deviceapplication, a kiosk and/or a gaming establishment interface to convertthe virtual ticket vouchers to an amount deposited into a gamingestablishment fund management account.

In certain embodiments, the system enables a user to fund the gamingestablishment fund management account, such as a gaming establishmentretail account, independent of the mobile device and independent of themobile device application. In certain other embodiments, the systemenables a user to utilize a mobile device running a mobile deviceapplication to fund the gaming establishment fund management account.More specifically and utilizing the example of a kiosk, in oneembodiment, to utilize a mobile device and a kiosk to facilitate thefunding of a gaming establishment fund management account, the userwirelessly pairs or otherwise connects a mobile device with a kiosk. Inone example embodiment, the user moves the mobile device into the rangeof a wireless receiver of the kiosk. The kiosk and the launched oractivated mobile device application of the mobile device negotiate asecure, authenticated connection with the proper functionality, versionsand security settings. It should be appreciated that the kioskwirelessly connects with the mobile device running the mobile deviceapplication in the same or similar fashion to how a mobile device ispaired or connected with a gaming device of the present disclosure.After connecting the mobile device to the kiosk, the kiosk prompts theuser to deposit an amount of funds into the kiosk. In one suchembodiment, the kiosk prompts the user to insert one or more bills intoa bill acceptor of the kiosk. In another such embodiment, the kioskadditionally or alternatively prompts the user to deposit a physicalticket voucher (associated with an amount of funds) into the kiosk. Inanother such embodiment, the kiosk additionally or alternatively promptsthe user to deposit a card associated with an external account, such asa credit card or debit card into the kiosk. In another such embodiment,the kiosk additionally or alternatively prompts the user to enterinformation associated with an external account, such as a credit cardaccount, a PayPal® account, a Venmo® account, or a debit card accountinto the kiosk. In another such embodiment, the kiosk additionally oralternatively prompts the user to deposit an amount of funds into thekiosk using a mobile device electronic fund transfer, such using ApplePay™ or Android Pay™.

In certain embodiments, upon receiving an amount of funds from the userand the user indicating to transfer the deposited amount of funds inassociation with the mobile device application, the kiosk communicateswith one or more servers to transfer an amount of money to a gamingestablishment fund management account (to be drawn upon from the mobiledevice application of the present disclosure). In another suchembodiment, upon receiving an amount of funds from the user and the userindicating to transfer the deposited amount of funds in association withan account or balance associated with the mobile device application, thekiosk communicates with one or more servers, such as a virtual ticketvoucher server, to create a virtual ticket voucher associated with theamount of received currency. The system of the present disclosuretransfers the created virtual ticket voucher to the gaming establishmentfund management account.

It should be appreciated that the electronic fund data transfers of thepresent disclosure may occur in addition to or as an alternative fromcash-based fund transfers and/or ticket voucher-based fund transfers. Inone such embodiment, an amount of funds transferred to a gamingestablishment device (e.g., an EGM or a retail point-of-sale terminal)is funded via any of an electronic fund transfer, a cash-based fundtransfer or a ticket voucher-based fund transfer. In another embodiment,an amount of funds transferred from a gaming establishment device (e.g.,an EGM or a gaming table component) is cashed out via any of anelectronic fund transfer, a cash-based fund transfer or a ticketvoucher-based fund transfer. In another embodiment, an amount of fundstransferred to a gaming establishment device (e.g., an EGM or a retailpoint-of-sale terminal) is funded via an electronic fund transfer or acash-based fund transfer (but is not funded via any ticket voucher-basedfund transfer). In another embodiment, an amount of funds transferredfrom a gaming establishment device (e.g., an EGM or a gaming tablecomponent) is cashed out via an electronic fund transfer or a cash-basedfund transfer (but is not cashed out via any ticket voucher-based fundtransfer). In another embodiment, an amount of funds transferred to agaming establishment device (e.g., an EGM or a retail point-of-saleterminal) is funded via an electronic fund transfer or a ticketvoucher-based fund transfer (but is not funded via any cash-based fundtransfer). In another embodiment, an amount of funds transferred from agaming establishment device (e.g., an EGM or a gaming table component)is cashed out via an electronic fund transfer or a ticket voucher-basedfund transfer (but is not cashed out via any cash-based fund transfer).In another embodiment, an amount of funds transferred to a gamingestablishment device (e.g., an EGM or a retail point-of-sale terminal)is funded via an electronic fund transfer (but is not funded via acash-based fund transfer nor a ticket voucher-based fund transfer). Inanother embodiment, an amount of funds transferred from a gamingestablishment device (e.g., an EGM or a gaming table component) iscashed out via an electronic fund transfer (but is not cashed out via acash-based fund transfer nor a ticket voucher-based fund transfer).

It should be appreciated that any functionality or process of thepresent disclosure may be implemented via one or more servers(associated with or independent of any component of any system disclosedherein), one or more gaming establishment devices (e.g., a gaming devicesuch as an EGM or a non-gaming device such as a point-of-sale terminal),one or more components of a gaming establishment device (such as acomponent of a gaming establishment management system supported by orotherwise located inside the gaming establishment device), or a mobiledevice application. For example, while certain data or information ofthe present disclosure is explained as being communicated from a gamingestablishment device, or a component associated with a gamingestablishment device to a mobile device via one or more wirelesscommunication protocols, such data or information may additionally oralternatively be communicated from one or more servers to a mobiledevice via one or more wireless communication protocols. Accordingly:(i) while certain functions, features or processes are described hereinas being performed by a gaming establishment device or a componentassociated with a gaming establishment device, such functions, featuresor processes may alternatively be performed by one or more servers, orone or more mobile device applications, or one or more gamingestablishment components, (ii) while certain functions, features orprocesses are described herein as being performed by one or more mobiledevice applications, such functions, features or processes mayalternatively be performed by one or more servers, one or more gamingestablishment devices, one or more components of a gaming establishmentdevice, or one or more gaming establishment components, (iii) whilecertain functions, features or processes are described herein as beingperformed by one or more servers, such functions, features or processesmay alternatively be performed by one or more gaming establishmentdevices, one or more components of a gaming establishment device, one ormore mobile device applications, or one or more gaming establishmentcomponents, and (iv) while certain functions, features or processes aredescribed herein as being performed by one or more gaming establishmentcomponents, such functions, features or processes may alternatively beperformed by one or more gaming establishment devices, one or morecomponents of a gaming establishment device, or one or more servers.

In certain embodiments, the above-described embodiments of the presentdisclosure may be implemented in accordance with or in conjunction withzero, one or more components of a gaming establishment fund managementsystem (e.g., a cashless wagering system or a gaming establishmentretail system), zero, one or more components of a gaming establishmentpatron management system, zero, one or more components of a retailpoint-of-sale system and/or zero, one or more gaming establishmentdevices. In these embodiments, such components of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the gaming establishment patronmanagement system, the retail point-of-sale system and/or the gamingestablishment device each include a controller including at least oneprocessor.

The at least one processor is any suitable processing device or set ofprocessing devices, such as a microprocessor, a microcontroller-basedplatform, a suitable integrated circuit, or one or moreapplication-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), configured to executesoftware enabling various configuration and reconfiguration tasks, suchas: (1) communicating with a remote source (such as a server that storesauthentication information or fund information) via a communicationinterface of the controller; (2) converting signals read by an interfaceto a format corresponding to that used by software or memory of thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device;(3) accessing memory to configure or reconfigure parameters in thememory according to indicia read from the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device; (4) communicating withinterfaces and the peripheral devices (such as input/output devices);and/or (5) controlling the peripheral devices. In certain embodiments,one or more components of the controller (such as the at least oneprocessor) reside within a housing of the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device, while in otherembodiments, at least one component of the controller resides outside ofthe housing of the component of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem, the component of the gaming establishment credit system, thecomponent of the retail point-of-sale system and/or the gamingestablishment device.

The controller also includes at least one memory device, which includes:(1) volatile memory (e.g., RAM which can include non-volatile RAM,magnetic RAM, ferroelectric RAM, and any other suitable forms); (2)non-volatile memory (e.g., disk memory, FLASH memory, EPROMs, EEPROMs,memristor-based non-volatile solid-state memory, etc.); (3) unalterablememory (e.g., EPROMs); (4) read-only memory; and/or (5) a secondarymemory storage device, such as a non-volatile memory device, configuredto store software related information (the software related informationand the memory may be used to store various files not currently beingused and invoked in a configuration or reconfiguration). Any othersuitable magnetic, optical, and/or semiconductor memory may operate inconjunction with the component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device disclosed herein. In certain embodiments,the at least one memory device resides within the housing of thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device,while in other embodiments at least one component of the at least onememory device resides outside of the housing of the component of thegaming establishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device. In these embodiments, anycombination of one or more computer readable media may be utilized. Thecomputer readable media may be a computer readable signal medium or acomputer readable storage medium. A computer readable storage medium maybe, for example, but not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical,electromagnetic, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (anon-exhaustive list) of the computer readable storage medium wouldinclude the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an appropriateoptical fiber with a repeater, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document,a computer readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that cancontain, or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program codeembodied on a computer readable signal medium may be transmitted usingany appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wireline,optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of theforegoing.

The at least one memory device is configured to store, for example: (1)configuration software, such as all the parameters and settings on thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device;(2) associations between configuration indicia read from a component ofthe gaming establishment fund management system with one or moreparameters and settings; (3) communication protocols configured toenable the at least one processor to communicate with the peripheraldevices; and/or (4) communication transport protocols (such as TCP/IP,USB, Firewire, IEEE1394, Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11x (IEEE 802.11standards), hiperlan/2, HomeRF, etc.) configured to enable the componentof the gaming establishment fund management system, the component of thegaming establishment credit system, the component of the retailpoint-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device tocommunicate with local and non-local devices using such protocols. Inone implementation, the controller communicates with other devices usinga serial communication protocol. A few non-limiting examples of serialcommunication protocols that other devices, such as peripherals (e.g., abill validator or a ticket printer), may use to communicate with thecontroller include USB, RS-232, and Netplex (a proprietary protocoldeveloped by IGT).

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentdisclosure may be illustrated and described herein in any of a number ofpatentable classes or context including any new and useful process,machine, manufacture, or composition of matter, or any new and usefulimprovement thereof. Accordingly, aspects of the present disclosure maybe implemented entirely hardware, entirely software (including firmware,resident software, micro-code, etc.) or combining software and hardwareimplementation that may all generally be referred to herein as a“circuit,” “module,” “component,” or “system.” Furthermore, aspects ofthe present disclosure may take the form of a computer program productembodied in one or more computer readable media having computer readableprogram code embodied thereon.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent disclosure may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Scala, Smalltalk, Eiffel, JADE, Emerald, C++, C #, VB.NET,Python or the like, conventional procedural programming languages, suchas the “C” programming language, Visual Basic, Fortran 2003, Perl, COBOL2002, PHP, ABAP, dynamic programming languages such as Python, Ruby andGroovy, or other programming languages. The program code may executeentirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as astand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partlyon a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer or server. Inthe latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user'scomputer through any type of network, including a local area network(LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to anexternal computer (for example, through the Internet using an InternetService Provider) or in a cloud computing environment or offered as aservice such as a Software as a Service (SaaS).

Aspects of the present disclosure are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatuses(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of thedisclosure. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable instruction executionapparatus, create a mechanism for implementing the functions/actsspecified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that when executed can direct a computer, otherprogrammable data processing apparatus, or other devices to function ina particular manner, such that the instructions when stored in thecomputer readable medium produce an article of manufacture includinginstructions which when executed, cause a computer to implement thefunction/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks. The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable instruction execution apparatus, or otherdevices to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on thecomputer, other programmable apparatuses or other devices to produce acomputer implemented process such that the instructions which execute onthe computer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

In certain embodiments, the at least one memory device is configured tostore program code and instructions executable by the at least oneprocessor of the component of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem, the component of the gaming establishment credit system, thecomponent of the retail point-of-sale system and/or the gamingestablishment device to control the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device. In various embodiments,part or all of the program code and/or the operating data describedabove is stored in at least one detachable or removable memory deviceincluding, but not limited to, a cartridge, a disk, a CD ROM, a DVD, aUSB memory device, or any other suitable non-transitory computerreadable medium. In certain such embodiments, an operator (such as agaming establishment operator) and/or a retail patron uses such aremovable memory device in a component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system to implement at least part of the present disclosure.In other embodiments, part or all of the program code and/or theoperating data is downloaded to the at least one memory device of thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment devicethrough any suitable data network described above (such as an Internetor intranet).

The at least one memory device also stores a plurality of devicedrivers. Examples of different types of device drivers include devicedrivers for the component of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem, the component of the gaming establishment credit system, thecomponent of the retail point-of-sale system and/or the gamingestablishment device and device drivers for the peripheral components.Typically, the device drivers utilize various communication protocolsthat enable communication with a particular physical device. The devicedriver abstracts the hardware implementation of that device. Forexample, a device driver may be written for each type of card readerthat could potentially be connected to the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device. Non-limiting examples ofcommunication protocols used to implement the device drivers includeNetplex, USB, Serial, Ethernet, Firewire, I/O debouncer, direct memorymap, serial, PCI, parallel, RF, Bluetooth™, near-field communications(e.g., using near-field magnetics), 802.11 (WiFi), etc. In oneembodiment, when one type of a particular device is exchanged foranother type of the particular device, the at least one processor of thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment deviceloads the new device driver from the at least one memory device toenable communication with the new device. For instance, one type of cardreader in the component of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem, the component of the gaming establishment credit system, thecomponent of the retail point-of-sale system and/or the gamingestablishment device can be replaced with a second different type ofcard reader when device drivers for both card readers are stored in theat least one memory device.

In certain embodiments, the software units stored in the at least onememory device can be upgraded as needed. For instance, when the at leastone memory device is a hard drive, new parameters, new settings forexisting parameters, new settings for new parameters, new devicedrivers, and new communication protocols can be uploaded to the at leastone memory device from the controller or from some other externaldevice. As another example, when the at least one memory device includesa CD/DVD drive including a CD/DVD configured to store options,parameters, and settings, the software stored in the at least one memorydevice can be upgraded by replacing a first CD/DVD with a second CD/DVD.In yet another example, when the at least one memory device uses flashmemory or EPROM units configured to store options, parameters, andsettings, the software stored in the flash and/or EPROM memory units canbe upgraded by replacing one or more memory units with new memory unitsthat include the upgraded software. In another embodiment, one or moreof the memory devices, such as the hard drive, may be employed in asoftware download process from a remote software server.

In some embodiments, the at least one memory device also storesauthentication and/or validation components configured toauthenticate/validate specified components of the component of thegaming establishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device and/or information, suchas hardware components, software components, firmware components,peripheral device components, user input device components, informationreceived from one or more user input devices, information stored in theat least one memory device, etc.

In certain embodiments, the peripheral devices include several deviceinterfaces, such as, but not limited to: (1) at least one output deviceincluding at least one display device; (2) at least one input device(which may include contact and/or non-contact interfaces); (3) at leastone transponder; (4) at least one wireless communication component; (5)at least one wired/wireless power distribution component; (6) at leastone sensor; (7) at least one data preservation component; (8) at leastone motion/gesture analysis and interpretation component; (9) at leastone motion detection component; (10) at least one portable power source;(11) at least one geolocation module; (12) at least one useridentification module; (13) at least one user/device tracking module;and (14) at least one information filtering module.

The at least one output device includes at least one display deviceconfigured to display any suitable information. In certain embodiments,the display devices are connected to or mounted on a housing of thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device.In various embodiments, the display devices serve as digital glassconfigured to aspects of the gaming establishment in which the componentof the gaming establishment fund management system, the component of thegaming establishment credit system, the component of the retailpoint-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device is located.In various embodiments, the component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device includes zero, one or more of the followingdisplay devices: (a) a central display device; (b) a player trackingdisplay configured to display various information regarding a user'splayer tracking status; (c) a secondary or upper display device inaddition to the central display device and the player tracking display;(d) a credit display configured to display a current quantity ofcredits, amount of cash, account balance, or the equivalent; and (e) abet display. In various embodiments, the display devices include,without limitation: a monitor, a television display, a plasma display, aliquid crystal display (LCD), a display based on light emitting diodes(LEDs), a display based on a plurality of organic light-emitting diodes(OLEDs), a display based on polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs), adisplay based on a plurality of surface-conduction electron-emitters(SEDs), a display including a projected and/or reflected image, or anyother suitable electronic device or display mechanism. In certainembodiments, as described above, the display device includes atouch-screen with an associated touch-screen controller. The displaydevices may be of any suitable sizes, shapes, and configurations.

In various embodiments, the at least one output device includes a payoutdevice. In these embodiments, after the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device receives an actuation, thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment devicecauses the payout device to provide a payment to the user. In oneembodiment, the payout device is one or more of: (a) a ticket printerand dispenser configured to print and dispense a ticket or credit slipassociated with a monetary value, wherein the ticket or credit slip maybe redeemed for its monetary value via a cashier, a kiosk, or othersuitable redemption system; (b) a bill dispenser configured to dispensepaper currency; (c) a coin dispenser configured to dispense coins ortokens (such as into a coin payout tray); and (d) any suitablecombination thereof. In certain embodiments, rather than dispensingbills, coins, or a physical ticket having a monetary value to the userfollowing receipt of an actuation of the cashout device, the payoutdevice is configured to cause a payment to be provided to the user inthe form of an electronic funds transfer, such as via a direct depositinto a bank account, a casino account, or a prepaid account of the user;via a transfer of funds onto an electronically recordable identificationcard or smart card of the user; or via sending a virtual ticket having amonetary value to an electronic device of the user.

In certain embodiments, the at least one output device is a soundgenerating device controlled by one or more sound cards. In one suchembodiment, the sound generating device includes one or more speakers orother sound generating hardware and/or software configured to generatesounds, such as by playing music. In another such embodiment, thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment deviceprovides dynamic sounds coupled with attractive multimedia imagesdisplayed on one or more of the display devices to provide anaudio-visual representation or to otherwise display full-motion videowith sound to attract users to the component of the gaming establishmentfund management system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device. In certain embodiments, the component ofthe gaming establishment fund management system, the component of thegaming establishment credit system, the component of the retailpoint-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device displays asequence of audio and/or visual attraction messages during idle periodsto attract potential users to the component of the gaming establishmentfund management system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device. The videos may be customized to provide anyappropriate information.

The at least one input device may include any suitable device thatenables an input signal to be produced and received by the at least oneprocessor of the component of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem, the component of the gaming establishment credit system, thecomponent of the retail point-of-sale system and/or the gamingestablishment device. In one embodiment, the at least one input deviceincludes a payment device configured to communicate with the at leastone processor of the component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device to fund the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device. In certain embodiments,the payment device includes zero, one or more of: (a) a bill acceptorinto which paper money is inserted; (b) a ticket acceptor into which aticket or a voucher is inserted; (c) a reader or a validator for creditcards, debit cards, or credit slips into which a credit card, debitcard, or credit slip is inserted; (d) a player identification cardreader into which a player identification card is inserted; or (e) anysuitable combination thereof. In one embodiment, the at least one inputdevice includes a payment device configured to enable the component ofthe gaming establishment fund management system, the component of thegaming establishment credit system, the component of the retailpoint-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device to be fundedvia an electronic funds transfer, such as a transfer of funds from abank account. In another embodiment, the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device includes a payment deviceconfigured to communicate with a mobile device of a user, such as amobile phone, a radio frequency identification tag, or any othersuitable wired or wireless device, to retrieve relevant informationassociated with that user to fund the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device. When the component of thegaming establishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device is funded, the at leastone processor determines the amount of funds entered and displays thecorresponding amount.

In various embodiments, the at least one input device includes aplurality of buttons that are programmable by the component of thegaming establishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device operator to, whenactuated, cause the component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device to perform particular functions. Forinstance, such buttons may be hard keys, programmable soft keys, oricons icon displayed on a display device of the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device that are actuatable via atouch screen of the component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device or via use of a suitable input device of thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device.In certain embodiments, the at least one input device includes atouch-screen coupled to a touch-screen controller or othertouch-sensitive display overlay to enable interaction with any imagesdisplayed on a display device (as described below). One such inputdevice is a conventional touch-screen button panel. The touch-screen andthe touch-screen controller are connected to a video controller. Inthese embodiments, signals are input to the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device by touching the touchscreen at the appropriate locations.

The at least one wireless communication component includes one or morecommunication interfaces having different architectures and utilizing avariety of protocols, such as (but not limited to) 802.11 (WiFi); 802.15(including Bluetooth™); 802.16 (WiMax); 802.22; cellular standards suchas CDMA, CDMA2000, and WCDMA; Radio Frequency (e.g., RFID); infrared;and Near Field Magnetic communication protocols. The at least onewireless communication component transmits electrical, electromagnetic,or optical signals that carry digital data streams or analog signalsrepresenting various types of information.

The at least one wired/wireless power distribution component includescomponents or devices that are configured to provide power to otherdevices. For example, in one embodiment, the at least one powerdistribution component includes a magnetic induction system that isconfigured to provide wireless power to one or more user input devicesnear the component of the gaming establishment fund management system,the component of the gaming establishment credit system, the componentof the retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishmentdevice. In one embodiment, a user input device docking region isprovided, and includes a power distribution component that is configuredto recharge a user input device without requiring metal-to-metalcontact. In one embodiment, the at least one power distributioncomponent is configured to distribute power to one or more internalcomponents of the component of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem, the component of the gaming establishment credit system, thecomponent of the retail point-of-sale system and/or the gamingestablishment device, such as one or more rechargeable power sources(e.g., rechargeable batteries) located at the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device.

In certain embodiments, the at least one sensor includes at least oneof: optical sensors, pressure sensors, RF sensors, infrared sensors,image sensors, thermal sensors, and biometric sensors. The at least onesensor may be used for a variety of functions, such as: detectingmovements and/or gestures of various objects within a predeterminedproximity to the component of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem, the component of the gaming establishment credit system, thecomponent of the retail point-of-sale system and/or the gamingestablishment device; detecting the presence and/or identity of variouspersons (e.g., users, casino employees, etc.), devices (e.g., user inputdevices), and/or systems within a predetermined proximity to thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device.

The at least one data preservation component is configured to detect orsense one or more events and/or conditions that, for example, may resultin damage to the component of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem, the component of the gaming establishment credit system, thecomponent of the retail point-of-sale system and/or the gamingestablishment device and/or that may result in loss of informationassociated with the component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device. Additionally, the data preservation systemmay be operable to initiate one or more appropriate action(s) inresponse to the detection of such events/conditions.

The at least one motion/gesture analysis and interpretation component isconfigured to analyze and/or interpret information relating to detecteduser movements and/or gestures to determine appropriate user inputinformation relating to the detected user movements and/or gestures. Forexample, in one embodiment, the at least one motion/gesture analysis andinterpretation component is configured to perform one or more of thefollowing functions: analyze the detected gross motion or gestures of auser; interpret the user's motion or gestures (e.g., in the context of acasino game being played) to identify instructions or input from theuser; utilize the interpreted instructions/input to advance the gamestate; etc. In other embodiments, at least a portion of these additionalfunctions may be implemented at a remote system or device.

The at least one portable power source enables the component of thegaming establishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device to operate in a mobileenvironment.

The at least one geolocation module is configured to acquire geolocationinformation from one or more remote sources and use the acquiredgeolocation information to determine information relating to a relativeand/or absolute position of the component of the gaming establishmentfund management system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device. For example, in one implementation, the atleast one geolocation module is configured to receive GPS signalinformation for use in determining the position or location of thecomponent of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device.In another implementation, the at least one geolocation module isconfigured to receive multiple wireless signals from multiple remotedevices (e.g., component of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem, the gaming establishment patron management system, the retailpoint-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment devices, servers,wireless access points, etc.) and use the signal information to computeposition/location information relating to the position or location ofthe component of the gaming establishment fund management system, thecomponent of the gaming establishment credit system, the component ofthe retail point-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device.

The at least one user identification module is configured to determinethe identity of the current user or current owner of the component ofthe gaming establishment fund management system, the component of thegaming establishment credit system, the component of the retailpoint-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device. Forexample, in one embodiment, the current user is required to perform alogin process at the component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device in order to access one or more features.Alternatively, the component of the gaming establishment fund managementsystem, the component of the gaming establishment credit system, thecomponent of the retail point-of-sale system and/or the gamingestablishment device is configured to automatically determine theidentity of the current user based on one or more external signals, suchas an RFID tag or badge worn by the current user and that provides awireless signal to the component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device that is used to determine the identity ofthe current user. In at least one embodiment, various security featuresare incorporated into the component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device to prevent unauthorized users from accessingconfidential or sensitive information.

The at least one information filtering module is configured to performfiltering (e.g., based on specified criteria) of selected information tobe displayed at one or more displays of the component of the gamingestablishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device.

In various embodiments, the component of the gaming establishment fundmanagement system, the component of the gaming establishment creditsystem, the component of the retail point-of-sale system and/or thegaming establishment device includes a plurality of communication portsconfigured to enable the at least one processor of the component of thegaming establishment fund management system, the component of the gamingestablishment credit system, the component of the retail point-of-salesystem and/or the gaming establishment device to communicate with and tooperate with external peripherals, such as: accelerometers, arcadesticks, bar code readers, bill validators, biometric input devices,bonus devices, button panels, card readers, coin dispensers, coinhoppers, display screens or other displays or video sources, expansionbuses, information panels, keypads, lights, mass storage devices,microphones, motion sensors, motors, printers, reels, SCSI ports,solenoids, speakers, thumbsticks, ticket readers, touch screens,trackballs, touchpads, wheels, and wireless communication devices.

As generally described above, in certain embodiments, the component ofthe gaming establishment fund management system, the component of thegaming establishment credit system, the component of the retailpoint-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device has asupport structure, housing, or cabinet that provides support for aplurality of the input devices and the output devices of the componentof the gaming establishment fund management system, the component of thegaming establishment credit system, the component of the retailpoint-of-sale system and/or the gaming establishment device.

It should be appreciated that the terminology used herein is for thepurpose of describing particular aspects only and is not intended to belimiting of the disclosure. For example, the singular forms “a”, “an”and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless thecontext clearly indicates otherwise. In another example, the terms“including” and “comprising” and variations thereof, when used in thisspecification, specify the presence of stated features, steps,operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, steps, operations,elements, components, and/or groups thereof. Additionally, a listing ofitems does not imply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusivenor does a listing of items imply that any or all of the items arecollectively exhaustive of anything or in a particular order, unlessexpressly specified otherwise. Moreover, as used herein, the term“and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of theassociated listed items. It should be further appreciated that headingsof sections provided in this document and the title are for convenienceonly, and are not to be taken as limiting the disclosure in any way.Furthermore, unless expressly specified otherwise, devices that are incommunication with each other need not be in continuous communicationwith each other and may communicate directly or indirectly through oneor more intermediaries.

Various changes and modifications to the present embodiments describedherein will be apparent to those skilled in the art. For example, adescription of an embodiment with several components in communicationwith each other does not imply that all such components are required, orthat each of the disclosed components must communicate with every othercomponent. On the contrary a variety of optional components aredescribed to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of thepresent disclosure. As such, these changes and modifications can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present subjectmatter and without diminishing its intended technical scope. It istherefore intended that such changes and modifications be covered by theappended claims.

The invention is claimed as follows:
 1. A system comprising: aprocessor; and a memory device that stores a plurality of instructionsthat, when executed by the processor following an occurrence of arequest to complete a transaction associated with a first amount offunds from a gaming establishment account, cause the processor to:responsive to the gaming establishment account being associated with anoverdraft protection feature and the gaming establishment account beingassociated with a second amount of funds that is less than the firstamount of funds, communicate, to a device, data associated with anauthorization to complete the transaction, wherein a difference betweenthe first amount of funds and the second amount of funds is drawn from aline of credit, and responsive to the gaming establishment account notbeing associated with the overdraft protection feature and the gamingestablishment account being associated with the second amount of fundsthat is less than the first amount of funds, communicate, to the device,data associated with a denial to complete the transaction.
 2. The systemof claim 1, wherein the device comprises a gaming device, the gamingestablishment account comprises a cashless wagering account and thetransaction comprises a transfer of the first amount of funds to abalance of the gaming device.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein thegaming device comprises any of an electronic gaming machine and a gamingtable component associated with a gaming table.
 4. The system of claim1, wherein the device comprises a point-of-sale retail terminal, and thegaming establishment account comprises a gaming establishment retailaccount.
 5. The system of claim 4, wherein the transaction comprises atransfer of the first amount of funds to an account associated with thepoint-of-sale retail terminal.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein thecommunication, to the device, of data associated with the authorizationto complete the transaction occurs following an approval of the drawingof the difference between the first amount of funds and the secondamount of funds from line of credit.
 7. The system of claim 6, whereinfollowing the approval of the drawing of the difference between thefirst amount of funds and the second amount of funds from the line ofcredit, the difference between the first amount of funds and the secondamount of funds are transferred to the gaming establishment account. 8.The system of claim 1, wherein responsive to the gaming establishmentaccount being associated with the overdraft protection feature and thegaming establishment account being associated with the second amount offunds that is less than the first amount of funds, the communication, tothe device, of data associated with the authorization to complete thetransaction occurs independent of any inputs received associated withany activation of any amount of funds from the line of credit.
 9. Asystem comprising: a processor; and a memory device that stores aplurality of instructions that, when executed by the processor after anestablishment of an overdraft protection feature associated with agaming establishment account, cause the processor to: receive dataassociated with a request to access a first amount of funds from thegaming establishment account when the gaming establishment account isassociated with a second amount of funds that is less than the firstamount of funds, and responsive to the request complying with anoverdraft protection control: communicate a request for a third amountof funds to a component of a gaming establishment credit system thatmaintains a line of credit, and responsive to the third amount of fundsbeing activated from the line of credit and transferred to the gamingestablishment account, approve the request to access the first amount offunds from the gaming establishment account.
 10. The system of claim 9,wherein the memory device stores a plurality of further instructionsthat, when executed by the processor responsive to the request notcomplying with the overdraft protection control, cause the processor todeny the access of the first amount of funds from the gamingestablishment account.
 11. The system of claim 9, wherein the memorydevice stores a plurality of further instructions that, when executed bythe processor responsive to the third amount of funds not beingactivated from the line of credit, cause the processor to deny theaccess of the first amount of funds from the gaming establishmentaccount.
 12. The system of claim 9, wherein the overdraft protectioncontrol is associated with at least one of: an authorization from a userassociated with the gaming establishment account to proceed withaccessing the line of credit, and an authorization from gamingestablishment personnel to proceed with accessing the line of credit.13. The system of claim 9, wherein the overdraft protection control isassociated with at least one of: an identity of a user associated withthe gaming establishment account, a frequency of accessing the line ofcredit, and a gaming establishment limitation.
 14. A method of operatinga system, the method comprising: following an occurrence of a request tocomplete a transaction associated with a first amount of funds from agaming establishment account: responsive to the gaming establishmentaccount being associated with an overdraft protection feature and thegaming establishment account being associated with a second amount offunds that is less than the first amount of funds, communicating, by aprocessor and to a device, data associated with an authorization tocomplete the transaction, wherein a difference between the first amountof funds and the second amount of funds is drawn from a line of credit,and responsive to the gaming establishment account not being associatedwith the overdraft protection feature and the gaming establishmentaccount being associated with the second amount of funds that is lessthan the first amount of funds, communicating, by the processor and tothe device, data associated with a denial to complete the transaction.15. The method of claim 14, wherein the device comprises a gamingdevice, the gaming establishment account comprises a cashless wageringaccount and the transaction comprises a transfer of the first amount offunds to a balance of the gaming device.
 16. The method of claim 14,wherein the device comprises a point-of-sale retail terminal, and thegaming establishment account comprises a gaming establishment retailaccount.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the transaction comprises atransfer of the first amount of funds to an account associated with thepoint-of-sale retail terminal.
 18. The method of claim 14, wherein thecommunication, to the device, of data associated with the authorizationto complete the transaction occurs following an approval of the drawingof the difference between the first amount of funds and the secondamount of funds from line of credit.
 19. The method of claim 18, whereinfollowing the approval of the drawing of the difference between thefirst amount of funds and the second amount of funds from the line ofcredit, the difference between the first amount of funds and the secondamount of funds are transferred to the gaming establishment account. 20.The method of claim 14, wherein responsive to the gaming establishmentaccount being associated with the overdraft protection feature and thegaming establishment account being associated with the second amount offunds that is less than the first amount of funds, the communication, tothe device, of data associated with the authorization to complete thetransaction occurs independent of any inputs received associated withany activation of any amount of funds from the line of credit.